


Operation 2.0

by jinjinjan23



Series: Spy Work [6]
Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Depression, Gen, Mention of Death, Mention of abuse, Mention of blood, Minor Violence, mention of murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 08:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 29,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19269262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinjinjan23/pseuds/jinjinjan23
Summary: Astro has made a plan to save Jin Jin and take down YNB at the same time but exactly what is their plan? Will they succeed? Will they be able to save Jin Jin in time?Operation 2.0 is in motion!





	1. Traitors

“Why are you guys doing this?!? Are you out of your minds?!?” Sanha and Rocky held Dongsung back as Bin tied a cloth around his head covering his mouth.

“We’re sorry guys…” MJ whispered as he finished tying up the other three members of Honeyst and sat them against the wall. “But we have to do this.”

Eunwoo typed away on their computers while the MJ and Bin kept Honeyst at bay. “It’s almost done. Just a few more seconds!”

Sanha and Minhyuk ran into the room, Honeyst’s office of operations. “Hyung! We grabbed as much as we could.”

Eunwoo pulled out the USB and motioned for Bin and MJ, “Just in time!” He threw a car key to Bin. “Go with the two and start the car. Hyung and I will grab the last few bags and meet you there.”

Bin nodded and ran out the door with the two youngest close behind him. MJ whispered a soft sorry to the members of Honeyst, before he quickly followed Eunwoo back to their dorm. They grabbed the remaining bags of: belongings, food, equipment, and weapons they had prepared ahead of time.

It was deep in the night- majority of the agents and trainees were asleep. Fairly, it wasn’t hard to leave without anyone noticing them. But, with what they had done: it was only a matter of time before they would be hunted down.

The two of them ran down the halls as quietly as possible. Bin was keeping guard of their recon-van, trunk and garage door wide open, while Sanha and Rocky were already anxiously seated waiting to leave.

Bin took the bags from Eunwoo and helped MJ fix everything to fit in the trunk, while Eunwoo got into the driver's seat. The alarm started to blare just as they closed the trunk. MJ and Bin rushed to their seats.

As Eunwoo drove away, both he and MJ, who was sitting in the front seat, could see The Boss from the side view mirrors. He just stood there motionless as the garage door slowly closed in front of him.

Both of them knew what it meant. They all did. “There’s no turning back now.” They all looked back on the agency as it disappeared in the distance. A solemn silence filling the air.

They had left the agency they called home for many years. They betrayed their friends and their boss. But they were on a mission to get back what mattered most to them: Jin Jin.

That same day, Monday morning, they were deemed fugitives by Fantagio to all spy agencies they worked with. They were no longer spies for the greater good but criminals.


	2. The Letter

_ To Noh Taeyoon-ssi, _

_ We hope you understand why we’re doing all of this. Attached is a paper with information Jin Jin secretly passed on to us. We know you won’t approve of what we’re doing, and we’re also sorry for hiding this information from you, but we knew you wouldn’t let us do this if we had told you beforehand. We’re sure you would’ve even lock us up had you known. But he doesn’t have that much time left. _

_ Fairly, we don’t care if your angry at us or the rest of the agency continues to hate us even more now. All we care about is saving Jin Jin and we know that’s something you would agree with us on. _

_ Yes, we haven’t exactly thought this whole plan through, but we’ll do everything to save him. Everything will work out somehow we’re sure of it! All we ask is that you leave him to us and keep the other units from hunting us down. We won’t return to the agency till we have him back. _

_ We’ll get him back alive, _

_ Jin Jin’s family _


	3. On the Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the next five days, the five of them were constantly moving. They had nowhere to stop or hide while both the agency and partnered agencies were on the hunt for them. Even with Eunwoo’s hacking skills, he could only hold off so many sources at once.

_ 777: We need to meet. It’s urgent _

_ Stupid Jinx2: I don’t know if I can sneak out. What’s wrong? What’s happened?!? _

_ 777: I can’t say through text. We have to meet. It doesn’t matter when or where. Just tell me and I’ll be there. _

_ Stupid Jinx2: Um… _

_ Stupid Jinx2: I can sneak out Saturday. Meet me at the orphanage 12pm _

_ 777: The orphanage you grew up in? _

_ Stupid Jinx2: Yes. I go there every Saturday so they won’t suspect a thing. _

_ 777: Ok. We’ll be there. _

_ Stupid Jinx2: “we”? Who’s “we”? _

——————————————————————

For the next five days, the five of them were constantly moving. They had nowhere to stop or hide while both the agency and partnered agencies were on the hunt for them. Even with Eunwoo’s hacking skills, he could only hold off so many sources at once.

Lucky for them, MJ was able to pack up all of the food and drinks that they could bring with them- which was majority of their kitchen. Having food and water meant they didn’t need to eat out or stop to buy food.

Their cards were deactivated but they had withdrawn all of their money the day before. The van was big enough for two people to sprawl out on the metal floor and sleep, while one could sleep spread across the long seat against the side of the van. The other two members stayed awake: one to drive and the other to keep the driver company. They took turns throughout the night; the two youngest members had not gotten their licenses yet and were forced to merely keep the driver awake.

MJ laid down on the floor restless each night. By Wednesday, Eunwoo had noticed his Hyung’s eyebags and realized immediately that he wasn’t able to get any sleep. So that night while it was supposed to be Bin’s turn to drive, he had Bin switch with Rocky.

Bin looked at MJ and realized what Eunwoo was trying to do. That night, Bin slept next to MJ with his arm around the other’s waist. Sanha jokingly gagged before going to sleep on the bench. Bin merely rolled his eyes and went to sleep. When Eunwoo stopped to get gas an hour later, he saw MJ finally sleeping peacefully and didn’t have the heart to tell either of them to take their turn.

Thursday, they were far out in the mountains. Rocky recognized the area as the forest he had last seen his parents. Now that he was older and more experienced, he understood why they had chosen to meet here. The mountains had little to no signal and with the lush forest, it would be difficult not to get lost. It was the perfect place for wanted people to temporarily stay.

They set up camp without a fire. Eunwoo and Sanha set up the sleeping bags while MJ and Bin prepared food for each of them. Rocky walked through the forest to patrol the area.

As dusk began to fall, Eunwoo realized Rocky wasn’t back yet. He told the three to stay close to the van before he left to find Rocky. Much to his relief, he found him safely in one piece.

Rocky was ballroom dancing with the air in the middle of a clearing. Eunwoo watched from the edge in awe. Not realizing he was being watched, he continued to dance- he was in his own world.

Minutes after Eunwoo’s arrival, his legs finally gave out and he fell to his knees. He bent over, his hands on the ground and his forehead on touching the grass as he began to yell and cry furiously.

Eunwoo wasn’t sure what to do. He knew Rocky was not one to share his feelings, but he also knew if Jin Jin was here, he wouldn’t hesitate to comfort him.

He slowly walked towards Minhyuk trying not to make any sudden movements knowing full well he had his throwing knives on him. “Rocky… It’s me Eunwoo.” He gently and awkwardly whispered as he continued to approach the boy.

Minhyuk stood up, his back to Eunwoo and furiously wiped his tears away. “H-hey, hyung. Sorry I uh… Tripped and I think I got some dust in my eyes.”

Eunwoo frowned and sighed as he put his hand on Rocky’s back. “I’m here for you.”

Rocky’s hushed cries were covered up by the sounds of various insects in the forest. Eunwoo stood beside him as he rubbed the younger’s back. They stayed in a comfortable silence surrounded by the moonlight.

Rocky wiped away the last of his tears and covered his swollen face with his hands. “Hyung…”

“Mmm?”

“Can I ask a favor?” He stood still and turned his face away as Eunwoo turned to look at him.

“Of course you can.” He ruffled the younger’s already messy hair.

“Can you try to track down my parents… I can’t believe I haven’t thought of them in so long… I just want to know they’re safe…”

Eunwoo’s heart warmed up. He couldn’t keep his smile in, “You got the best hacker in the world! Of course I can help you find them!”

“Hyung?”

“Mmm?”

“Thank you.”

He smiled again. It was the first time he had really comforted anyone; it was the first time he felt like he had really grown closer to someone; all the more, he was happy to know he had grown closer to one of his friends. “Let’s get back before the others get even more worried.” He ruffled Rocky’s hair and put his arm around him as they walked back.

They were greeted by MJ’s tackle and yelling, while Bin merely rolled his eyes and Sanha laughed at Rocky’s swollen face- earning him a punch to the stomach. Eunwoo looked at the group and smiled gently at the sight before him.

“I wish this could last forever.” Not realizing he said his thoughts aloud, the others looked at him confused. “Um… I said we should sleep. Sanha’s on guard duty.” They just brushed it off. Rocky went into the van to get Sanha a weapon while MJ pulled Bin to two sleeping bags lying next to each other.

That night was the first night they slept comfortably in days and would be for months to come.


	4. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She totally has a crush on you."
> 
> “Hyung, you’re worse than the five year-olds here.”

It was finally Saturday and they were very anxious. They had gotten to the orphanage way ahead of the meeting time and stayed parked right out front. It wasn’t good for them to stay in one place for more than an hour, but here they were, three hours ahead of schedule.

The three younger members suggested multiple times that they should just drive around and come back, but MJ was insistent on waiting there. After an hour of waiting, Sanha and Bin decided to take a nap. While Eunwoo was helping Rocky search for his parents on the computer. MJ, though, could not take his eyes off of the world outside the van.

Eleven hit and, as if on cue, a cab stopped in front of the orphanage. MJ jumped up, started to shake them awake and signal across the street. All five of them squeezed themselves to be able to see out the driver’s seat window.

Across the street, kids that were playing on the sidewalk excitedly ran to a man coming out of the cab and hugged him. A beautiful woman, around their age, came out from the orphanage doors smiling- more children pushing their way out the door to greet the man. A man Astro could recognize a mile away: Jin Jin.

The woman hugged Jin Jin, they said a few words before she invited him in while the kids continued to play on the sidewalk.

“Should we go in?” Rocky asked as he tapped MJ’s shoulder.

The eldest just shook his head in response. The others looked at each other, just shrugged their shoulders and went back to what they were originally doing. MJ carefully watched the windows and doors for signs of Jin Jin, but for the next hour, nothing.

Twelve o’clock hit and a bell rang across the street followed by the woman coming out and calling the children to line up. The kids excitedly got into a messy line towards the door. Jin Jin came out the door holding an unmarked box. Even from across the street, the cheers of the children could be heard causing the others to switch their attention back to the orphanage.

One by one they hugged Jin Jin, grabbed the goodie bag he was holding out to them and ran inside. As the last kid walked in, Jin Jin said something to the woman who merely smiled and nodded in response as she took the empty box and went back in first. Jin Jin held the door for her, looked straight towards MJ and the others and walked in, closing the door behind him.

“Let’s go.” MJ softly stated as he motioned for the side door. All together, they crossed the street. Eunwoo knocked on the door to the orphanage but no response. He looked back at the others and cautiously opened the door, a chime above the door went off as they walked inside.

Inside was a large receiving room with a desk at the other end and benches lined up against the wall. The walls were filled with informational posters, pictures of some children and others of happy families. MJ recognized one of the pictures framed on the wall: a picture of a young Jin Jin and Eric with worn out faces but holding hands and genuinely smiling next to a young Noh Taeyoon.

The woman walked into the room, sounds of children laughing and playing through the door she had just come through. “Oh. I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if I heard the chime go off!” She bowed politely to them as they all bowed and gathered closer to her. “How can I help you?”

The door she had just come out of opened once more but a deeper voice came with it, “They’re here for me.” Jin Jin walked out. As the door closed behind him, the eldest and the youngest three tackled him into a group hug. Eunwoo laughed and waited for the group hug to disperse before running to give him a hug as well.

The woman laughed and whispered something to their leader, pointed to a hallway on the right-side of the room. “It was nice to meet all of you, but I should get back to the children now.” She bowed to them and faced Jin Jin, “Will you be back again, next week?”

Jin Jin looked at the others. He could tell they were sleep deprived and stressed. He looked back at her, “Thank you again, but… it might be awhile before I can come back.”

She smiled brightly, “It’s ok! I know your job makes you travel a lot. The children and I will always be here to welcome you.” She looked to the others, “And all of you as well.” She hugged Jin Jin. “Thank you for spending time with the children these past few weeks. Safe travels.” She bowed her head one last time to them all and went back through the door she had entered.

MJ nudged Jin Jin, “She totally has a crush on you.” The others burst out laughing.

He pouted, “Hyung, you’re worse than the five year-olds here.” MJ laughed and hugged him again.

Jin Jin smiled and motioned for them to follow him down the hall. “Before we catch up, why don’t you guys wash up and change. There are enough rooms here for each of you. I’ll wait in the room at the end of this hall.” He pointed to the door at the end with a sign that said “Library”.

Rocky and Bin went back to the van to get everyone’s change of clothes. Meanwhile, Sanha and MJ already started their baths while, Eunwoo took out his phone to check if any agents were near them or knew of their location. To his relief, the decoy information he sent out was keeping everyone far off their trail.

After sometime, they were all finally refreshed and in the library. Jin Jin was sitting at a round table with their favorite drinks sitting in the middle for them to grab. Eunwoo was last to arrive and sat across from Jin Jin, “Old habits die hard I see?”

Jin Jin smiled, “No, I just thought you guys might need it after your long journey.” His smile turned into a frown.

Eunwoo’s smile faded, “You heard...”

“Of course I heard! How could you guys be so reckless?!?” His voice got louder and louder as he stood up, “What did you guys do!?”

The youngest two looked at MJ while Bin and Eunwoo merely looked away. MJ who was sitting next to him sighed, “It was all my idea, ok? After I bought popcorn, I talked to them about it and we decided to join you in your quest for revenge!”

Jin Jin shook his head, “You don’t need popcorn. So what did you do?”

“Jin Jin… We figured out the best way to save you AND take down YNB in the process was to follow the lead you gave us and go for it. Eunwoo figured the only way YNB chief would trust us without doing a whole long initiation would be-”

Eunwoo cut in, “Would be if we did something big enough for us to get into serious trouble.”

“So you guys did something against Fanta. Something big enough to get yourselves wanted!?! I will ask one last time: what. DID. YOU. DO?” Jin Jin leaned forward. Each of them looked away from him but Sanha was unlucky and made eye contact. “Sanha, tell me now.”

Sanha practically wet his pants with how Jin Jin glared at him. “We… We sorta tied Honeyst up; hacked into the database using their computers and…” He chugged down the rest of his banana milk. “And we may have… downloaded every agent’s, including from associated agencies’, personal information as well as their history and where their families live onto a USB drive that we are currently in possession of…” He quickly spurt out the last part hoping his elder wouldn’t understand.

But Jin Jin completely understood and he understood how big of a crime it would be. “Eunwoo! Are you nuts!?! If you give that to YNB and we fail, then YNB will have complete advantage over every good spy agency there is!”

Eunwoo looked unfazed, “That’s why we’re not going to fail. Plus, you act like I wouldn’t have changed the information a bit. Honeyst saw me changing the information as I copied it so I’m sure they’ll tell the Boss not to worry.”

Jin Jin sat back down, “The Chief will definitely check if the information is accurate.”

Eunwoo shook his head, “And I’ll just tell him that part of protocol is to do emergency evac of family members. Hyung, it maybe be reckless and our plan may not be fully thought out, but I at least thought this part through. I’m not about to risk other people’s lives except our own.”

“I did want you guys to come to YNB, but I didn’t think you’d go this far...” He could only sigh in response. “What are you guys planning to do now?”

MJ placed a hand on the younger one’s shoulder and with a straight face answered, “Bring us to YNB.”


	5. Emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Eunwoo, how much time do I have?”
> 
> Eunwoo and MJ glanced at each other before he answered, “A year, hyung.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to add a little heartwarming scene before things get serious

“Bring us to YNB.”

Jin Jin could see how serious his friend was and as he looked around the table, he could see the same look of determination within all of them. “Fine, but I can’t today. I need to get back and report to the Chief first. You guys can stay the night here. You should be safe for the night.”

Their eyes all lit up. MJ hugged Jin Jin, “We’re happy to have you back.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking and catching up. Jin Jin finally told them everything from beginning to end without any lies. Minus MJ who had already heard majority of it, the others reacted with much anger and remorse. He told them all about what he had been doing for the past few months and why he took the nanites. He even told MJ about the will and thanked him for it, “I’m just sorry I can’t do Hyung’s last request to live a long life for him…”

After that, the atmosphere became very solemn and then just huddled together in a comfortable silence.

As night drew, they decided to sleep in one room in case they needed to suddenly escape. They picked the biggest room with a king size bed and three windows allowing them to escape easily. As the three youngest members fell asleep, the three eldest sat in the hall in front of the room.

“Eunwoo, how much time do I have?”

Eunwoo and MJ glanced at each other before he answered, “A year, hyung.”

“Don’t lie to me. I’m sure you told them I have a year,” He pointed to the door “didn’t you? But you can’t fool me. How much time do I REALLY have?” Jin Jin placed a hand over Eunwoo’s.

MJ leaned his head on Jin Jin’s shoulder and hugged his arm. Eunwoo kept his hand still, “... Roughly, half a year… But, I haven’t seen you blank out once today, so, you know, I could be wrong. It’s just my estimate after all.”

Jin Jin held the younger’s hand, “Or… I have even less time than that.”

MJ looked up at him. In a hushed yelling tone, “Don’t say that!”

“Hyung, as much as I am mad at you.” He paused. “At both of you, for putting the others in danger… I’m also happy that I get to spend my last months with you guys.” He leaned his head on MJ’s.

MJ sat up, “You’re an idiot- you know that? We won’t let you die. We’ll grow old before any of us die. We’ll make sure you fulfill Eric-hyung’s request and your promise to him. We have a lot to do before you can even think about dying you know!”

Eunwoo and Jin Jin just smiled at their hyung’s positivity. Even though they knew he was trying to be strong, his words weren’t wrong and they had a lot to do.

Jin Jin got up, “I should get going. I still need to talk to the Chief.” He hugged MJ and then Eunwoo, “Eunwoo… You’ll take care of them even if I’m gone right?”

Eunwoo punched the older’s shoulder, “Didn’t hyung just say not to think that way?” He smiled and pushed him towards the door. “Now go talk to the Chief before it gets too late.”

Jin Jin’s smiled and waved goodbye to them, but Eunwoo saw the blank look on his face as soon as he turned around.

“Hyung?” Eunwoo stopped MJ from going into the room.

“Ya, what’s up?” MJ looked at him curiously one hand still on the handle.

Eunwoo motioned for him to move away from the door and whispered. “Jin Jin-hyung’s note said that the nanites keep him from feeling emotions right? And, you said that the last time you saw him, his emotions were a bit stiff.”

MJ stepped closer and began to whisper as well, “Ok? I don’t understand.”

“His emotions seemed normal today though? It didn’t seem stiff. Was he like this last time?”

MJ looked out the hallway window and watched Jin Jin get into his cab, “Now that I think about it… No, his emotions were definitely more natural today… Do you think they removed the nanites? But, if they did, why wouldn’t he tell us?”

Eunwoo leaned against the windowsill and watched the cab drive away, “I don’t know… I doubt he wouldn’t notice he can feel emotions again. I don’t want to doubt him and say he’s hiding something from us again but… Anything could’ve happened in the past month since you last saw him… But it could also be that the nanites are breaking or malfunctioning or… or, I don’t know. There’s way too many theories. I just found it odd.”

MJ shook his head, “No you’re right. It’s odd and he seemed so natural I almost didn’t notice.” He pushed himself off the windowsill and started walking towards the room. “I will say this though; it felt like Jin Jin’s accepted his fate to… die.” He frowned as he held the door knob. “It’s sad...”

Eunwoo pat the shorter one’s head, “Don’t worry, we won’t let him die, hyung... We should get some rest.”

Inside, the three were fast asleep, spread out on the bed they were all supposed to fit on- forcing Eunwoo and MJ to grab some blankets and pillows and sleep on the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get real serious next chapter. Be warned


	6. Initiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they all got inside, the wall began to close and a dim spotlight lit up in front of them.
> 
> Rocky nudged from behind, “Hyung, are you sure this isn’t a trap?” MJ couldn’t respond.

Eunwoo and MJ slept restlessly, so when MJ got a text from Jin Jin early in the morning, they were reluctant to get up.

Sanha and Rocky got up, full of energy, but Bin on the other hand, they had to pull him off the bed to wake him up. They all got ready and thanked the woman for letting them stay the night before heading out.

Jin Jin had texted them coordinates and detailed instructions on how to get in. However, over night, agents were getting close to their area and more agents were deployed in the city. Whenever they would get close to the alley they needed to enter, agents were nearby making them go around.

After an excruciating hour of going around in circles, they were finally able to pull into the alley and hide the van. They followed the alley maze just as Jin Jin instructed and once they had finally reached the dead end, Bin pressed the brick a faded graffiti arrow pointed to.

The brick wall next to them began to rumble and split in half. Eunwoo and MJ cautiously led the group into the darkness waiting for them. As they all got inside, the wall began to close and a dim spotlight lit up in front of them.

Rocky nudged from behind, “Hyung, are you sure this isn’t a trap?” MJ couldn’t respond. His mind filled with doubts as the four of them instinctively got into a circle surrounding Sanha- backs facing him.

Footsteps and a familiar voice came from the darkness, “It’s ok. They’re with me.”

The lights quickly turned on all at once- almost blinding them from the change. But once they were able to adjust, standing before them was Jin Jin. Though they weren’t alone in the room: they were completely surrounded by YNB agents- all armed and on edge.

“Lower your weapons!” Jin Jin calmly commanded as he walked towards the five of them. “The Chief will be here in a moment, but we need to take your weapons for now.” Eunwoo nodded and was first to give his weapons to his leader. The others followed lead but MJ and Rocky kept their gloves on remembering what Jin Jin had told them yesterday:  _ “If he agrees to meet with you, they will take your weapons. Make sure not to bring in any of our specially designed weapons. But Rocky, you and MJ-hyung should wear your gloves and don’t take them off. They won’t know they’re specialized and I want you guys to have something just in case things go wrong. But NEVER be the first to initiate a fight.” _

Jin Jin placed their weapons on a cart. Behind him the crowd of agents split in half. A tall, built man in a suit walked through. His age showed on his face and the battles he had gone through showed in the way he walked with confidence. A scar ran across his cheek, but so was a maliciously charming smile.

“Astro! You don’t understand how delighted I am to meet all of you!” He looked at the agents surrounding them. “I’m so sorry for the rude introduction, but you can just call me Chief- head of YNB of course.” He bowed with one arm across his chest. “To think you would do such a reckless act against your own company. I’m assuming you will be using it as a bargaining chip?”

His smile brought shivers down their spines. Jin Jin stood next to the Chief and made eye contact with Eunwoo. Eunwoo nodded, “We want to join you. MJ-hyung told us about Jinwoo-hyung’s story and we want to help him. Not just that, they bullied us and treated us with contempt. We don’t have anything against them, but we couldn’t stand being there anymore. So we decided to get revenge AND hopefully use it as a way to show our allegiance to you.” As he said “you” he glanced at Jin Jin without the Chief noticing.

The Chief laughed heartily, “Just as you said,... Eunwoo-ssi correct?” Eunwoo nodded. “What you have done together has definitely piqued my interest and has definitely showed me your willingness to turn your back on your beloved home.” He waved his hand and all of the agents surrounding them left the room through the double doors behind the Chief and Jin Jin. The only ones left in the large brightly lit room were: Astro, the Chief and two agents standing behind him, one being Jihun of KNK.

The Chief clapped his hands and a third agent walked in with a cart. On top were four pistols. He pushed the cart between the five members of Astro and the Chief before leaving the room. “You see…” He took one of the guns checked it’s barrel was clear. “Although it was a great effort and I would still love to take the USB, I still need one last push to know I can trust you.” He placed the gun back down in its original place in line. “Anyways, my request is quite simple and I’m sure agents as smart, talented and reckless as you lot are sure to pass.”

His smirk brought shivers down their spines once more and this time for Jin Jin as well. His gut was telling him this request was far from simple. He looked at MJ and Rocky whose hands were in tight fists. Rocky looked as if he was ready to attack at a moments notice, but when he made eye contact with Jin Jin, he slowly went back to a normal stance.

Rocky and Bin moved to line up next to Eunwoo and MJ, still keeping a barrier between Sanha and the Chief. The Chief chuckled and moved the cart closer to them, “You see, as much as I want to trust each of you, I want assurance that should something happen~” In their eyes, he became a dark shadow looming over them. “You’re willing to turn your backs on each other.”

He grinned maliciously and pointed to Sanha, “You must be Sanha. For ONCE, Jihun’s assessment is correct: Astro protects the youngest.” He motioned his hand from right to left, “Your first instinct is always to put space between him and the enemy. It’s quite admirable, I must say.”

“Rather than having each of you shoot each other, this would be more interesting.” He motioned for the four standing between him and Sanha to step up, “Each of you grab one, please.” Astro, minus Jin Jin and Sanha, cautiously did as they were asked. “Sometimes, tests require sacrifice… You see, only one of these guns has a bullet. The others have blanks. Which one? Even I don’t know.” He shrugged and walked back next to Jin Jin. “My dear boy, Sanha. Would you stand over there with your arms and legs spread out.” Sanha’s eyes quivering as he moved. “The four of you line up and aim for a limb.” They all moved avoiding the eye contact Sanha was desperately trying to look for. “I want you to shoot at the count of three… Don’t worry, I still need him so we’ll be sure to give him medical attention..”

They all waited nervously for him to start counting, each of them with guns pointed to a different limb. They were all nervous and unwilling to shoot the baby of the group, they could only hope they had the blank. Sanha tried to keep his shaking body still. He knew how hard it must be for his hyungs to have to shoot him and he needed to keep a brave face.

Jin Jin stood restlessly next to the Chief waiting for him to start counting. All he could think of was how sorry he was to put them in this position and hoped they wouldn’t try to shoot at the Chief.

The Chief put his arm around Jin Jin, almost making the boy jump. He never touches people and if he does: that means he’s usually up to something. Jin Jin kept his head straight and no emotions on his face. He grinned, “Agent Jinwoo, why don’t you have the honor of doing the countdown? Oh, and to make things more interesting, why don’t you count to five.”

Jin Jin gulped as he tried to calm down his anxious heart. He didn’t want to see any of his friends hurt Sanha or themselves; especially not in this room. Not in the room he had killed Eric. “One.” He wanted to close his eyes, but with the Chief paying attention to each of them, he couldn’t. “Two.” He felt like fainting. He kept hoping they wouldn’t turn their guns to the Chief. “Three.” His eyes started to close on their own, his vision becoming blurry. Astro couldn’t look at him, Sanha nor each other and only focused on their aim. “Four.” His thoughts faded away. Everything became blurry and dark.

The Chief, who was excitedly watching Astro as he waited for the fifth count, moved his attention to Jin Jin, after waiting a second too long to announce the final count. He took his arm off of Jin Jin and was ready to punch him, but when he saw the blank look on Jin Jin’s face, he couldn’t help but sigh. “Five.”

Much to the Chief’s surprise, all four guns went off simultaneously. Astro had all closed their eyes after pulling the trigger. Each of them scared to see what was bleeding out. But they couldn’t hear Sanha scream in pain, one by one they slowly opened their eyes to realize Sanha was perfectly fine minus the look of shock on his face.

The Chief threw Jin Jin’s slumped body over towards them. MJ and Eunwoo quickly caught him before he could hit the ground. “Congrats. I was sure one of you would hesitate to shoot but you have all gone beyond my expectations.” He smiled, “I may have been misinformed and all of them had blanks? Or maybe I just lied. Who knows~”

He motioned towards the cart, “You can placed the guns back.” Bin placed his and then took MJ’s and Eunwoo’s to put back as they supported their leader between them. The Chief motioned to the agents behind him, one taking the cart back. “All of your weapons has been checked and is waiting in Jin Jin’s room. You will all have to stay in his room for the time being. Once rooms have been prepared for EACH of you, someone will come for you. For now, agent Jihun will drive you to the main headquarters and show you to agent Jinwoo’s room.”

Jihun rolled his eyes and began to walk away. The younger members followed closely behind him- Sanha’s legs still shaking from shock. Meanwhile, MJ and Eunwoo were slowed down by Jin Jin’s weight. As they passed the Chief, he stopped them and held out his hand, “The drive please, Agent Eunwoo.” Eunwoo took the drive out of his back pocket and handed it to him. The Chief grinned and got out of their way. Behind them they could hear him say, “Welcome, new agents.”


	7. Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some time, they had all fallen asleep. All but Eunwoo. He watched Jin Jin carefully from his view. Past the door was complete silence with only echoes of footsteps passing through now and then. It had been hours since Jin Jin went into black-out mode but when they had seen him yesterday nothing happened at all. He could feel his heart swell up.

After a few hours of driving in awkward silence, Jihun quickly walked down the maze of corridors straight to Jin Jin’s room. There were times when the youngest three almost lost him. If it weren’t for Sanha’s long legs to keep up they would’ve gotten lost. MJ and Eunwoo had to run to catch up with them and not get lost, all the while, still carrying their leader between them.

Jihun opened the door to Jin Jin’s room for them and anxiously waited for them to catch up, “Hurry up! I don’t got all day!”

Bin wanted to punch him so badly but he had to hold back. As MJ and Eunwoo finally caught up and walked in. The youngest three dropped their bags outside the door. Sanha moved the box of equipment waiting for them on Jin Jin’s bed while Bin and Rocky helped the older ones lay Jin Jin down on the bed. As Jihun slammed the door shut he didn’t bother to look at them, “Someone else will come by to show you around once your rooms are ready.”

Sanha looked around the room as he placed the box down on the floor next to him. Even though it was just a bedroom, compared to the rooms they had in their dorm, the space was very small, even compared to those they had when they were trainees. It was only room for one person to be able to walk around their bed.

Jin Jin barely had anything in his room. Along one wall was a closet half filled with all of his clothes and shoes. Along the other wall, were containers labeled with weapons and other equipment. His bedrest had shelves with only three framed pictures: his favorite picture of him, his brother and his father; a picture of him with his mother; and a picture of Astro.

The five of them sat on the floor around the full-sized bed and leaned their heads against the edge. Jin Jin still had a blank the same blank look on his face since they were at one of the settlements. It was the first time any of them, minus MJ, had seen Jin Jin like this. MJ assured them he was fine and would wake up soon, but as minutes turned into hours he himself began to get worried. 

After some time, they had all fallen asleep. All but Eunwoo. He watched Jin Jin carefully from his view. Past the door was complete silence with only echoes of footsteps passing through now and then. It had been hours since Jin Jin went into black-out mode but when they had seen him yesterday nothing happened at all. He could feel his heart swell up. What he, Jin Jin and MJ had predicted was wrong: it wasn’t going to get more frequent; if anything it was going to be less frequent, but in exchange, the length of his black-outs would get longer until eventually…

Eunwoo shook his head furiously as the calculations in his mind were getting close to an estimate. He didn’t want to finish the calculation anymore. Not right now. All he knew was that he needed to make sure the other members would be happy to be around Jin Jin and they needed to find a solution FAST. Before going to sleep he found some eye-drops, put them in Jin Jin’s eyes and then closed them so they wouldn’t dry.

——————————————————————

Jinwoo opened his eyes, they burned as if he had just been staring into the sun. He sat up and reached for his eye-drops. As his vision and mind began to clear up, he realized he was back in his room, his members sleeping against the bed. He picked up his phone to check the time and put it back down. “Wait. What?” He quickly grabbed it again and realized his phone didn’t say “10:00 am” like he had originally read but instead said “10:00 pm”. He had been unconscious for almost ten hours.

Sanha woke up to all the rustling noises Jin Jin had been making from moving around on the bed. Realizing it was Jin Jin making all the noise he couldn’t help but shout, “Hyung, you’re awake!”

His shout caused the others to wake up. MJ, Bin and Rocky with a displeased look on their face but when they saw Jin Jin, immediately they became ecstatic. MJ jumped onto the bed and wrapped his arms around the younger’s torso. Eunwoo sat on the other side of Jin Jin while the other three sat at the foot of the bed facing them- Minhyuk in the middle; Sanha across from Eunwoo; and Bin across from MJ.

Jin Jin pat the eldest’s head, “Hyung, Bin will get jealous if you keep clinging to me like this.”

MJ pouted and continued to snuggle his best friend, “Bin can break up with me for all I care, as long as you never leave my side again!” Bin could only chuckle.

Everyone’s smiles slowly faded within the empty silence between them. Jin Jin could only feel MJ’s grip tighten as he tried to be even closer to him- all the while, hiding his face into Jin Jin’s side.

Rocky cleared his throat, “If no one's gonna say it, then I will.” He looked straight at Eunwoo, “It’s worse than we thought, isn't it?”

Eunwoo shook his head, “No, it’s not.”

Rocky slammed his hands onto the bed, “Don’t lie to us! What Jin Jin-hyung just went through was nothing like what we thought! I know you must’ve calculated something in that big brain of yours, so don’t lie to us!”

Eunwoo stayed silent looking to the older ones for help, but MJ was still hiding in Jin Jin’s warmth; as for Jin Jin, his eyes screamed out for the truth too. “Fine! Yes, it’s worse than we thought but I… I don’t know anymore…” His voice faded.

Rocky leaned forward, “How long does he have?”

“I don’t know! I really don’t!” Eunwoo lashed out and looked away from the group.

Rocky looked like he was about to pounce on Eunwoo, but Jin Jin finally intervened, “Minhyuk, that’s enough. Eunwoo really doesn’t know because he doesn’t want to calculate it anymore, am I right?” He looked at Eunwoo who merely nodded in response. “It’s painful for everyone... I’m sorry for putting so much weight on your shoulders.” He patted Eunwoo’s head, “But, thank you for keeping strong all this time. You don’t have to pretend anymore- I’m here.” The younger one turned towards him, leaned into his lap and began to cry.

Rocky had a look of guilt on his face. He, Sanha and Bin remained quiet as Eunwoo and MJ cried in Jin Jin’s embrace. They had done their share of worries and crying when they first found out their leader only had a year left and without realizing it, they had put a lot of pressure on Eunwoo and MJ to help keep them strong.

Bin reached out for MJ, but Rocky stopped him and shook his head. For the next few minutes, Eunwoo and MJ wept into their leader’s arms. When they were finally out of tears, MJ changed his position and laid his head on Bin’s leg. Eunwoo sat up back to his usual posture of confidence, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t hold it anymore.”

Rocky crawled closer to Eunwoo and hugged him, “I’m sorry, hyung.”

Eunwoo smiled and placed his hand on the other’s head, “You have nothing to be sorry for. None of you.” He looked at Jin Jin as Rocky went back to his spot, “Hyung… From here on, we don’t exactly have a plan…”

Jin Jin looked at all of them. Each of them had looks of despair on their faces but he just smiled, “Then let’s make one!”


	8. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astro are finally in and Jin Jin has awoken. They finally get to plan their next steps but can everything go smoothly in enemy territory?

“... From here on, we don’t exactly have a plan…”

Jin Jin looked at all of them. Each of them had looks of despair on their faces but he just smiled, “Then let’s make one!”

MJ sat up,”Do we need popcorn?”

He shook his head, “I’m not sure anymore... but you will for sure need some in your rooms.”

MJ placed his elbow on his leg and leaned on his hand, “Tch. I see… Is there a way to know for sure?”

Jin Jin picked up the picture frame with his mom in it and started to walk around the tiny room, making sure to point the frame into every nook and cranny.

Sanha leaned over towards MJ and whispered, “What is he doing? And why are you asking for popcorn again?” The eldest merely hushed him as they watched Jin Jin in silence.

He sat back down and place the frame back in its place, “We’re good. No popcorn.”

MJ sighed, “That’s good to know.” He looked at Sanha, who’s mouth was wide open ready to ask his questions again, but this time louder. “Popcorn is Jin Jin and I’s code for if we know someone is listening to us or if it’s not safe to talk about things and more so, our code to know if someone got brainwashed.”

Rocky let out a small laugh, “Why popcorn?”

MJ stuck his tongue out to the younger one, “Well, back when Jin Jin and I were the only ones in Astro, we had a lot of recon missions and one of which was on a well known hypnotizer. So we decided to make a code, but it had to be inconspicuous. Back then, we weren’t constantly busy so we would have popcorn and movie night on Sundays. While we were watching Waleee, I randomly thought of popcorn as our code word and it’s been that way since.”

Sanha chuckled and pointed to the picture frame, “So you have a hidden debugger in there?”

Jin Jin shook his head, “No, if I did they would find out. It’s a specialized device I had Eunwoo put together. It can only scan for bugs and cameras.”

Eunwoo leaned against the shelves, “Though, I didn’t understand why you wanted me to put it on your picture frame… Until now that is.”

Bin pat MJ to move, stood up and started to stretch. “So… What’s the-”

Just as he was about to ask about their plan, a knock came from the door immediately followed by someone opening it. It was a girl and a boy who looked to be around Sanha’s age, if not younger, and behind them were Seungjun, Heejun and Inseong of KNK.

Jin Jin signaled for Astro to go out. “Lily. Maru. It’s been awhile since I last saw you two. How is training going?”

As the other members of Astro cleared the room, the girl Jinwoo called Lily, walked in with a bag she was holding and began to check his pulse. “They said we’re almost ready for the field.” She glanced at KNK who were currently introducing themselves to Astro and whispered, “Though, I would prefer just working at the medical bay.” She took out what looked like a large bandage from the bag and placed it on his neck. It lit up and began to show his blood pressure, temperature, and blood levels. “I’m scared to be on the field…”

The boy he called Maru was still standing at the doorway. He hushed her and whispered “Why are you telling him?!? He’s a high clearance agent now, remember? What if he tells!?!”

She waved him away, “He’s still the agent Jinwoo we know.” She peeled off the scanner from his neck, “I understand why you’re mad at Fantagio, but at the same time, I wish I had gone there… If my family wasn’t contracted to YNB I would’ve ran there for help. From your stories, there’s so much freedom and you’re free to FEEL things and say your opinion.” She closed up her bag and stood up, “Over here it’s all serious, all business, all orders without a say nor value of life.”

Behind her, the boy could only nod in agreement. She walked to the doorway, “Your vitals are fine, so you can do as you please.” They bowed to KNK and Astro and walked away.

Sanha walked in and grabbed their box of weapons. “Do people here normally feel that way, hyung?”

Jin Jin got up and walked over to him, “Keep your ears open but your mouth shut unless we’re alone. Don’t forget, we’re not at Fanta anymore.” Sanha hesitantly nodded and they walked out of his room together- closing the door behind them.

“Agent Jinwoo” Inseong walked towards them “We’re about to give them a tour before showing them to their rooms, if you would like to join?” Jin Jin nodded.

KNK did their best not to get Astro lost through the endless corridors as they showed them around. They thought the base they had been captured at was huge but this place was even larger. Eunwoo secretly turned on his watch and mapped out the corridors they walked through. As they walked, KNK didn’t have much to say except for some rules so they started talking about other things. Both groups were quite surprised to find out how much they had in common with each other.

By the time they were shown to their rooms, KNK had become fond of Astro and even curious about them. “Isn’t Fantagio better than here? Why would you leave that place and come here?” Seungjun asked as he handed each of the members the keys to their doors.

Eunwoo placed his bags down in front of the door and looked around to make sure no one else was around, “Well, why did you guys join YNB?”

Much to his surprise, the three members had complex emotions on their faces. Heejun was first to respond in a hushed tone, “We all have our reasons for being brought into this life… But the three of us didn’t choose to be here, ok? That’s all I have to say.”

As curious as they were, none of Astro bothered to push the subject any further. Instead, they each got into their rooms and started to unpack half of their stuff. Waiting for them on their beds were cases containing a phone and an ID with their name, picture and the words “High Clearance”

Jin Jin stayed with Sanha as he unpacked. All of their rooms were next to each other, minus Jin Jin whose room was all the way on the other side of the building. Their rooms were exact replicas of Jin Jin’s down to the gray walls, cement floor and dim lighting.

Before he left for his room, Eunwoo put a band on Jin Jin’s wrist. “I modified the watch to be even sleeker. There’s a hidden button on the side to send an s.o.s. signal to us. If you wave your hand over it, a holographic screen should pop up with multiple options; one of which is to track others wearing it. Each of us have one now, but because it was a rushed project, it’s still buggy.”

Jin Jin nodded and left. That night, they expected to sleep comfortably, but a feeling of uneasiness left them awake. They weren’t home. They were in enemy territory and separated from one another. 

MJ got up and went into Bin’s room only to find Rocky already having set up a sleeping area for himself on the floor. MJ got on the bed and slept in Bin’s embrace.

Sanha had also gotten up when Rocky did but instead went to Eunwoo’s room. The older one made space on the bed for the younger one. The sleep they got that night was the most restless sleep they had gotten in the past week.

Unbeknownst to them, Jin Jin dissociated in his sleep and when he woke the next day, another ten hours had passed.


	9. The Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You think too shallow, Jihun. I thought I raised you to be better than this."

Eunwoo and Sanha were woken up by the deafening sounds of a bell ringing in the small room. They jumped out of bed, covering their ears and got out of the room. Two doors down, Rocky, Moonbin and MJ were also stumbling out of Bin’s room.

Standing in the quiet hallway was KNK, Jihun confidently standing in front of the other three with a smirk on his face. “Good morning!” Eunwoo looked at his watch, it was only five in the morning. “Sorry for the rude awakening, but the Chief wants to meet with all of you right now.” The three had poker faces but didn’t make eye contact with any of them.

He threw a garbage bag at MJ. “Wear these clothes whenever you’re going to meet with the Chief.” Inside was a plain, pure white shirt, pants and shoes made of thin fabric- a set for each of them. “He likes to make sure no one can hide any weapons or bugs when they meet with him. Oh, and please make sure to wear these and only these. No watches, bands, socks and don’t bring your phones nor ID’s”

MJ passed around the clothes based on sizes and they got changed. Jihun led the group while the other three members of KNK walked behind Astro. They felt more like prisoners being watched rather than co-workers being shown around.

The Chief’s office made them feel even more like prisoners. The lighting was dim but the room was large and filled with extravagant looking furniture. Despite the two chairs in front of his desk, they were all forced to stand in front of him with their arms on their sides. Meanwhile, KNK stood in front of the doors, almost like guards.

The Chief remained comfortably seated in his chair, “I’d like to officially welcome you to YNB! It’s quite early, isn't it? I just wanted to see how fast you could move and get ready. I’m quite surprised you’re all much faster than your leader.” He motioned for Jihun to come close to him and began to whisper to him.

They couldn’t hear anything but Sanha managed to hear an important part of their conversation:

“..... Where is Agent Jinwoo? He-....”

“He’s still unresponsive, sir. They’re-....”

The Chief clicked his tongue and waved Jihun away. “Usually, I would assign you to different units and disband your original unit, but Astro is a special case. I will allow you to remain under the name Astro and assign Agent Jinwoo back as your leader.” He brought up his left hand and lifted one finger, “Under one condition, that is: KNK will preside over you. They will watch over you during your missions and you will train alongside them.”

Eunwoo cautiously raised his hand and waited for the Chief to motion for him to talk, “Sir, we came here to help Jin… Agent Jinwoo to get revenge, but what mission are you assigning to us? And what makes us a special case?”

“Those are very good questions. You see, your mission is what makes you a special case. As you may know, Agent Jinwoo’s previous assignment was to be a mole but once his cover was blown in attempts to get you to join, he has just been helping KNK in…” He smirked “testing the nanites.”

He took out a vial from one of his drawers and handed it to Eunwoo. It’s contents was a liquid of violet color. “In that is an experimental potion that is meant to reverse the effects of the nanites on Agent Jinwoo and hopefully allow them to work properly.”

Without thinking Sanha spoke up, “Why can’t you just take the nanites out? What if this potion doesn’t work!?!” The Chief glared and Rocky, who was standing next to Sanha covered the younger’s mouth before he could say more.

Eunwoo bowed ninety-degrees, “I’m sorry, sir! He’s always had a big mouth and gets into trouble for it. I will make sure to discipline him later.” Rocky punched Sanha’s stomach just enough to make him bend over.

Sanha coughed and let out an airy “I’m sorry… Sir”

The Chief, with a displeased look on his face continued, “Agent Eunwoo, have Agent Jinwoo take that today. Tomorrow, Agent Jinwoo will further explain your mission to all of you and, along with KNK, plan your next move.” He pressed a button and the doors back to the hallway slowly opened behind them. “You are all dismissed except for Agent Jihun.”

They all bowed and left the room with the three members of KNK. As KNK guided them back to their rooms, they had friendly but stiff conversations.

——————————————————————

“Agent Jihun, I want you to keep a close watch on those five. As much as I trust Agent Jinwoo, those five are only loyal to him.”

“Isn’t that a good thing, sir? You have Agent Jinwoo in your grasp. As long as he’s alive you have them… Unless you don’t think that potion you gave them is going to work? Sir, If I am to be honest I don’t understand why you want to keep the nanites in Agent Jinwoo nor why he’s so special.”

“Tch. It’s called multitasking, Agent Jihun. He is the key to not only solving the nanites but also to luring in my arch enemy.”

“The boss of Fantagio? How?”

“You think too shallow, Jihun. I thought I raised you to be better than this. You see, just as I raised and trained you. Noh Taeyoon raised and trained Agent Jinwoo himself. He has quite the soft spot for the boy and I’m sure if his precious son comes ‘running back’ to him, he’ll fall right into his arms without hesitation. But it’s not Agent Jinwoo’s arms he’d be running into but mine.”

“I see… Then shouldn’t we keep him alive as long as possible? At this rate he only has a few months to live.”

“Yes. But, he is the first actual test subject of the nanites. If we can find out what’s wrong and how to fix it before he dies then the nanites will have been perfected and we can finally use them!”

“Sir… I offered to be the first to test the nanites… Why couldn’t I have done it?”

“And risk losing the next in line to be Chief? No. Plus, if Agent Jinwoo decided to go back to Fantagio, we could kill him at a moment’s notice, making the next in line for the position of Boss to become vacant. Then Taeyoon would have been busy training and finding the next possible candidate for the position making him emotionally and mentally distracted. Perfect time to strike. Though… I do enjoy the current plan at the moment more. I get to watch Taeyoon struggle to get his ‘son’ back.”

“I see. That IS quite a well thought out plan.”

“Yes, which you need to learn to do more. You can learn a lot from Agent Jinwoo, if only he wasn’t raised by Taeyoon… He is good at strategic thinking; cause and effect and has excellent leadership skills. You need to learn from him before he dies to the nanites. Understood?”

“.... Understood… sir…”

——————————————————————

“Jinwoo”

He opened his eyes, only to be blinded by a bright but warm white light. A female figure reaching their hand out to him. “Jinwoo, are you ready to join us?” The voice was warm and soothing. Two other figures stood next to her. One a man just a bit taller than the woman and the other a boy around his own height.

Jin Jin began to reach out for the hand but a fourth figure appeared and placed his hand on the woman’s shoulder making her bring her hand down to her side. “I’m sorry, Jin Jin. But it’s far from time yet. You still have a lot more you need to do before you can join us. The people back home still need your help. Don’t worry, we’ll always be here to greet you when the time comes.”

The four figures turned around and disappeared into the light. Jin Jin desperately tried to run in after them, but the light disappeared and everything turned black once more.


	10. Breakfast Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “And what exactly is a girl like me?” She scoffed.
> 
> Sanha stayed silent and avoided eye contact as he began to blush. He finally whispered his response, “Cute…”

After getting changed back into their normal clothes, Sanha told the rest of them what he had heard and they quickly made their way to Jin Jin’s room. Eunwoo holding tightly to the vial he was given. When they got there, Lily and Maru were coming out of the room.

Lily, seeing what was in Eunwoo’s hands, pushed Maru back into the room and motioned for Astro to come inside. With seven people standing around the bed, the room felt more cramped than the day before.

Lily took the vial while Maru sat Jin Jin up and tilted his head. She poured the contents into his mouth and made sure he swallowed all of it before laying him back down on the bed. “It’ll take a while before we see any effects. I suggest we let him rest for now. Have you eaten breakfast yet?”

Rocky just glared at her, “We’re not hungry.” But next to him, Bin’s stomach growled. He smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck.

Eunwoo opened the door, “She’s right. We should eat. We don’t know when he’ll wake up and it’s better if we get used to getting around this place while we have the time.” Rocky just rolled his eyes but obediently followed out the door.

Maru led the group while Lily was at the back of the group with Sanha. Sanha unconsciously stared at her. “Do you need something? It’s not polite to stare you know?” She glanced up at him.

He blushed and looked away, “Sorry… I didn’t mean to. I was just wondering what a girl like you would be doing here.”

“And what exactly is a girl like me?” She scoffed.

Sanha stayed silent and avoided eye contact as he began to blush. He finally whispered his response, “Cute…”

Lily blushed at his reply. Being at YNB everyone was almost always so serious and any personal connections were avoided, but Sanha’s complement was refreshing and at the same time embarrassing to hear. “Oh… Um… Thank you…” She looked away from him and noticed MJ and Bin, who were walking in front of them, glancing back at them and giggling making her blush even more.

“Ho- how is it living here?” Sanha asked without looking at her, his face still bright red.

“I hate it here but… I mean, it’s not like a have a choice.” She gasped, made eye-contact with Maru at the head of the group and quickly covered her mouth. “I- I mean, I love it here. YNB is so much better than Fantagio or any other spy agency.”

He looked at her face and saw the fear and worry in her eyes. They stayed quiet the rest of the walk. Only MJ glancing back at him with a serious look on his face.

——————————————————————

When Jin Jin woke up, it was already ten o’clock and his stomach growling. He tried to remember what had happened in his dream, if it was even a dream, but he couldn’t. All he could remember was that it was heartfelt but sad.

A note was on his lap:

_ Good morning, _

_ It happened again. Please call me when you wake so that I can check your vitals once more. _

_ The Chief talked to your friends earlier this morning and the smart/handsome guy had a vial when they came by. I’m assuming the Chief gave it to him for you to take; so we had you take it while you were out. I have a feeling it may be another test solution on how to fix the bugs. _

_ Anyways, we’re on our way to get breakfast, but I’m sure once they find out you’re awake they’ll come running to you. -Lily _

That was exactly what Astro did as soon as Lily got the call from Jin Jin. Maru had to stay behind to clean up all of their garbage and get food for Jin Jin, while Lily ran after Astro- hoping to make it there before them so she wouldn’t get kicked out of the room. Lucky for her, they were still confused by the many passages and took the long way around, while she took a shortcut. 

By the time Astro got there, they were out of breath and inside, Lily was already checking his vitals. “You guys are slow.” She grinned as she concentrated on what she was doing.

The Eunwoo sat at the edge of the bed still catching his breath. “The vial… He told us to give it to you. It’s supposed to reverse the effects…” He focused on controlling his breathing.

Jin Jin smiled, “Yes, Lily told me about it already. I’ve actually been taking it the past month. Enough about that, I’m sure you have other things to tell me?” They all glanced at Lily, but Jin Jin just laughed. “It’s ok. She won’t say anything, right Lily?”

She just nodded her head and continued her work. Eunwoo taking his leader’s lead, hesitantly told him everything that happened during the meeting, including Sanha’s outburst. Lily giggled softly to herself when she heard it but no one heard her.

“What is our supposed mission here, hyung?” Rocky asked as he leaned against the wall.

Jin Jin looked at Lily who was just sitting on the bed next to him and Maru who had just walked in with his food. They didn’t wait for him to say anything, but got up and walked out; leaving the food with him and closing the door behind them. “He wants us to continue the plan to takedown Fantagio but more importantly… He wants us to lure the Boss into a trap...”


	11. History Lesson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ok. Get comfortable then, because it’s gonna take a while.”

“Hyung, I get that Fantagio, a good-guy spy company, against YNB, a bad-guy spy company, would be fighting against each other. But, for everything to go this far, it almost feels like it’s not just about the companies.” Rocky sat down next to him. “You know something don’t you?”

MJ, tired of standing, sat down on the cold cement floor, “Do you?”

Jin Jin could only sigh, “It’s a long and complicated story. I’m not sure of the specific details either, it’s only from what I’ve overheard and picked up over the years.”

Eunwoo got up and locked the door, “We have all day, hyung.”

He took a sip of the coffee Maru had gotten him, “Ok. Get comfortable then, because it’s gonna take a while.”

——————————————————————

About one century ago, by governmental views, society could be split into three groups: the law, the innocent, and the lawless.

The innocent were aware of the lawless from the news but knew the law was taking care of it. What they didn’t know, and till now don’t know, is just how large scale the lawless had become and how many innocents were getting caught in the “cross fire”.

Groups of vigilantes began to pop up everywhere and the Government decided to put money into these groups to take care of the lawless behind the eyes of the innocent. They began to learn and train to be spies and to handle the lawless without affecting innocents. The most successful groups gained more funding and eventually separated from the government into their own companies while the smaller groups disbanded and joined the larger companies. Despite the large number of companies, the largest and most powerful was called Purelife.

During Purelife’s prime, the lawless started to get less reckless and work under the radar. Purelife started what we now call units and split the units to handle specific lawless groups. To keep the balance of the law without any innocents being affected, the lawless groups that conceded to Purelife’s power were able to continue their acts as long as they abided by specific requirements:

One: No kidnapping, no slave trade, no human trafficking, hostage situations, etc.

Two: No murder or any actions that may cause innocents to get killed or hurt.

Three: No affecting innocents in anyway. Including but not limited to: fights in populated areas, damaging homes and businesses, polluting waterways, mid-day robberies and heists, etc. 

Four: A Good-Deed (GD) quota must be fulfilled each month by the lawless organization- amount depending on the strength of the organization.

Five: Any illegal acts deemed to be too widespread will be dealt with accordingly.

Six: Organization must give a percentage of its earnings to Purelife and must turn in a detailed weekly-report on all actions done during the week.

Seven: No illegal actions or harm towards Purelife agents/agency and Partnered agencies.

Eight: Any rules not followed properly (including false weekly-reports made) the lawless organization will be exterminated.

Nine: Purelife is obliged to help the lawless in times of need IF and only IF it does not go against the law.

Majority of the lawless abided by these rules and were able to peacefully continue their illegal businesses. Some of the lawless even decided to leave their old lives and become agents of Purelife. Though, there were large lawless organizations that were difficult to track down and thus never conceded to Purelife.

These organizations found their way in and were able to find agents who either didn’t agree with the rules or were able to be easily bribed. This was only a piece of what led to a civil war within Purelife- two brothers leading each side: Noh Taeyoon’s grandfather leading the law, later called Fantagio; and Noh Hyunjun’s, the Chief’s, grandfather, leading the lawless, later called YNB.

The brothers’ father was head of Purelife at the time and showed favoritism towards Noh Taeyoon’s grandfather. He was the youngest of the two, but was more skilled and kind hearted of the two. The chief’s grandfather’s jealousy continued to grow as they got older. No matter how much he tried to prove he was more worthy, their father still decided to name Noh Taeyoon’s grandfather next in line.

The lawless caught wind of his jealousy. They convinced him to overthrow and gain control of the company. In exchange for their help, he would turn it into a spy agency that would work for the lawless. The same night Noh Taeyoon’s grandfather was announced to be next in line, the Chief’s grandfather killed their father and the war began.

Eventually, both sides became tired of constantly fighting for power over Purelife and agreed to disband Purelife entirely and start their own companies. As the years passed, the position of head of the company did not always run in the family for both companies, but rather a child deemed to have high potential would be raised and trained by the head. There have been cases where someone else comes along with even greater potential and skills.

But now, finally, after over a century, both companies are being led by direct descendants once more. Though they have the same last name, their blood lines are now far apart. Our current predicament is based on a mix of two things: the past and the present.

On one side, the Boss and Fantagio: he wants this endless war between the two companies and family to finally end. It’s his way of wanting to fix the mistake their grandparents made, especially now that they are the last ones remaining in their bloodline.

On the other, the Chief of YNB: he also wants this war to end but not because of the companies but for personal reasons. He was raised to be jealous of the Boss. His father and grandfather always looked down on him with much disappointment and always praised how much Noh Taeyoon seemed to excel more than him despite being the same age. He always worked hard and with it he was chosen to be next in line, but they still continued to look down on him and beat him whenever he didn't meet their expectations.

He watched from afar how much the Boss was praised and loved despite the times he would fail. He grew to despise the smile on his face and once he became Chief, he made it his life’s mission to make the Boss’s life miserable by taking away everything he loves and torturing him. He feels as though winning the war would gain his grandfather and father’s love and respect. Winning this war would be the ultimate win for him.

——————————————————————

“That is why he wants us to lure the Boss into his hands… He wants him to suffer and watch the company he has worked hard to grow and protect fall apart.”

“But we can’t let him do that!” Sanha cut in. “We can’t let Fantagio fall! That’s our home!”

Rocky quickly covered the younger’s mouth, “You’re too loud!”

A knock came from the door. They all held their breath as Eunwoo cautiously opened the door. They breathed a sigh of relief to see it was Lily and Maru. But the two seemed more tense than usual and behind them, walking down the hall towards them was the Chief and Jihun.

They all walked out of the room and stood at attention, except for Jin Jin who remained in bed. The Chief passed them without acknowledgement and walked into the room. Jihun remained outside with the others- his arms crossed, brows furrowed and his foot impatiently tapping.

The Chief stood in front of the bed blocking anyone’s view of Jin Jin from the doorway. “How are you feeling?”

Jin Jin kept his head bowed, “Like I need to throw up, sir. But that could be from lack of eating.”

The Chief grinned, “It may take a few days before we can see if the new solution worked. For now, get some rest. Astro will be training with KNK for the rest of the day. And tomorrow, you’ll be back to work, understood?” Jin Jin nodded his head.

“Good.” He turned around and walked out the door. “Trainees, stay with Agent Jinwoo the rest of the day and help him with his needs. Astro, you will follow Agent Jihun to the training center. I hope you ate, because from now until midnight you will be training with KNK without any breaks.”

As he disappeared into the corridor, Jihun started walking down another hall without a word leaving them behind. Astro reluctantly followed after him while Lily and Maru went back into the room.


	12. Time to Plan

Astro trained with KNK from noon to six in the morning and just as the Chief had said: without any breaks to eat or rest. As soon as they laid down in bed, the alarms on their phones started to go off. They received a text message from Jihun to start getting ready for their meeting.

Much to their dismay, they got up and got changed. Jin Jin greeting each of them outside their rooms as they came out one by one. Unlike them, he was full of energy after resting all of yesterday.

The meeting went by “smoothly” with Jihun and Jin Jin leading it. Although the other members never said anything, the tension between Jihun and Jin Jin was in the air as they presented the assignment and plan- often throwing snarky remarks at each other.

Just as Jin Jin had told them the day before, their assignment was to take down Fantagio and lure the Boss into a trap.

“It may take a while before the boss would be willing to personally meet with Jinwoo, so for now, while Jinwoo and I are setting up the trap, Astro will spend the next month training with KNK. Is that understood?”

Jihun stood up from his seat as the others replied in chorus “Understood.”

“Dismissed.” He walked out of the room- KNK following closely behind him.

Once they were for sure out of sight, Sanha sank into his chair, “A whole month of nonstop training!?!” He sighed, “If it’s anything like last night, I think I’d rather they kill me”

Jin Jin got up from his seat and smacked Sanha on the back of the head. “One! Don’t say anything like that! Two! You need to be careful of what you say. People around here aren’t free to voice their opinions.”

Eunwoo, who was sitting next to MJ, closed his copy of the folder they had been given, “Why is that?”

Jin Jin peeked his head out the door and made sure no one was walking by. “If you voice your opinion here or say anything against a higher up’s orders, you can get killed on the spot.”

Everyone stayed quiet. Bin slammed his hands on the table, “Who cares about that! What’s more important is,” He lowered his voice into a soft whisper “how are we going to save Jin Jin-hyung, Fanta and the Boss! Our problem just grew five times in size since we got here and we haven’t even been able to plan anything.”

MJ leaned in “I actually thought of something. It may be dumb though…”

Jin Jin sat back down in his seat next to MJ, “If it’s an idea coming from you, I’m sure it’s not as dumb as you think. After all, it’s rare of you to voice your ideas.”

MJ hugged his best friend, “I’m willing to voice them in order to save you and everyone we love.” he pulled out of the hug and continued to voice his thoughts, “I think we can do a mix of what Jin Jin’s original plan to take down Fantagio was and a mix of what the lawless did to Purelife.”

Rocky, who was sitting the furthest away, got up and closed the glass door to the room. “You mean take them out from the inside?”

MJ nodded, “We wouldn’t even have to do a lot of work to get people here on our side either! It seems like a lot of people don’t like it here. All we have to do is find them and convince them to rise up. Is it dumb?”

Eunwoo shook his head, “I think you’re onto something. If we can get enough people here to rise up against the Chief, we could plan an attack or protest depending on the number of people that join. Though, it would help if we had some sort of way to cause a distraction.”

Sanha raised his hand, “What about the Boss and Fantagio? They would be perfect distractions wouldn’t they?

Jin Jin nodded, “Sanha’s right! The Chief would be too distracted by the Boss and Fantagio to even realize what we’re doing. We only have two problems with that: how to deliver a message to the Boss without the Chief realizing and how to keep Jihun off our backs.”

Rocky chuckled, “I think you’re more than enough to keep him off our backs, hyung.”

Jin Jin shot a glare at him. “You do have a point though…” he sighed, “So now, just how do we get a message to the Boss.”

The entire time they talked, no one was watching the door. But a slight squeaking sound came from the door. They all turned only to see a figure quickly sprint away.

Bin and Rocky shot up from their seats and ran after the figure. Jin Jin motioned for the other three to stay while he followed after them. With their quick reflexes, Bin and Rocky were able to apprehend the eavesdropper just before the hallway split into three paths.

The man had a hood on and was covering his face. Jin Jin motioned for them to quickly bring him into the meeting room before anyone sees what they were doing.

They sat the man down between MJ and Eunwoo. Eunwoo pointed his compact taser pen close to his side before Bin and Rocky let go, “Slowly take off your hood.”

The man nodded and did as he was asked. Bin gasped, “You?!?”


	13. An Ally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team has managed to grab an eavesdropper. Is this person a friend or foe?

“You?!?” Bin hugged the man in the chair and Eunwoo put away the taser. “Seungkwan, what are you doing here?!?”

“Hey, Bin.” Seungkwan smiled as he accepted Moonbin’s hug. “Well…” He looked at Jin Jin who was just smiling in his seat.

“Seungkwan is actually the fourth and last to be recruited as a double spy.” Jin Jin reached over MJ and pat Bin’s arm. “Bin go sit down.”

Seungkwan bowed his head, “Hello everyone! Sorry to scare you. But when I saw the six of you in here alone, I got curious what you were talking about. When you saw me eavesdropping, I got embarrassed and my first instinct was to run away. I KNEW you guys wouldn’t betray Fanta like everyone thinks.” He loosened the rope on his hood “I knew it had to be because of Jinwoo-hyung, though I don’t really know the deets. Anyways, I guess running into you guys was perfect timing, huh?”

Eunwoo nodded, “Very perfect!” Realizing how loud he was, he began to whisper, “You’re still in contact with the boss right?” Seungkwan excitedly nodded his head. “Then you can relay our messages to the Boss for us.”

“Yes…” Seungkwan had mixed emotions on his face “I’m actually heading back their today, but ever since you guys left, a lot of people at headquarters have been on edge trying to make sure their families are safe. The Boss has been running around trying to reassure every unit that its fine.”

Jin Jin leaned closer, “It’s ok, just be sure to tell him.” Seungkwan said nothing more and merely nodded.

All of Astro’s phones dinged and when they checked looked they all cried out in pain. The text was from Jihun calling them to one of the training rooms in ten minutes. Jin Jin on the other hand received no text. He knew his assignment to lure the Boss has to start today.

Jin Jin motioned with his head towards the door, “You guys go on ahead. I want to talk to Seungkwan some more.” They all did as they were told. Bin gave Seungkwan one last hug before leaving.

As soon as the rest of Astro was out of sight, the smiles on Jin Jin and Seungkwan’s faces disappeared. “Hyung, do they know?”

Jin Jin shook his head, “They have a rough idea…” He took out a vial with a violet color liquid from his pocket. “The chief has been making me take this everyday now, but it only keeps me from blacking out. I can still feel the-” His phone dinged with a message from Jihun- reminding him to contact Noh Taeyoon.

Seungkwan held the older’s hand, “I’m sorry… The researchers are still trying to find a way to remove the nanites but the Chief has been keeping them so busy with finding a way to fix it that they haven’t had time to figure that out. But also, they don’t want to admit to him that they don’t know how to do either solutions… Not that he cares to remove them.” He rolled his eyes. “I just wish I could be of more help.”

Jin Jin smiled, “You’ve been helping me a lot these past few months as is and now I… We are asking you to help us. You’ve done so much for me, thank you.”

Seungkwan smiled back, “I know you’d do the same for me… no, for anyone. And I’m sure with Astro by your side, it'll be more effective.” He let go of Jin Jin’s hand “Anyways, since Astro’s reach within YNB is still small, I’ll also help you guys find others willing to rebel, but for now, I need to go.”

The older nodded, “Seungkwan… I know you don’t like keeping secrets from your friends and I know you and Bin are close… But please, don’t tell them.”

Seungkwan, with a concerned look on his face and a forced grin, hugged Jin Jin and left for Fantagio. Jin Jin opened the vial, drank it, and placed it back in his pocket. He took out his Fantagio phone from his back pocket and stared at the empty draft message to the Boss.

He sat in silence and it wasn’t until he received a second reminder text from Jihun that he began to type the lies he had grown accustomed to:

_ Jinwoo: Hello sir, _

_ Jinwoo: It’s been awhile since we last talked. I’m sorry to betray Fantagio like this, but more so, I’m sorry to betray you. You’ve taken such good care of me but the anger I felt after finding out you were the one who killed my family… I couldn’t help but let it control me. _

_ Jinwoo: Astro made me realize that blood isn’t the only family I have but you and them as well. I hope you can forgive me and I ask for your help. I want to get out of YNB and all the more get Astro out of here. _

_ Jinwoo: Can we please meet in person? _

Using his YNB phone he took a picture of the sent messages and sent it to Jihun. Despite his photo stating it was seen by the receiver, Jihun did not reply to him.

All Jin Jin could do now was wait for the Boss to receive his message- both the fake and the real.


	14. Plans in Motion

The next morning, Jin Jin woke to his phone dinging multiple times in a row.

_ Boss: Jinwoo! _

_ Boss: I’m so happy to hear from you. _

_ Boss: I forgive you. _

_ Boss: It’s my fault. I should have told you a long time ago about the truth and I am very sorry I didn’t. _

_ Boss: I really want to help all of you, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to come back here either. If I were to bring you back, it may cause a problem. Especially, after what your members have done. _

_ Boss: But, I am sure we can find somewhere safe for you to go. I believe Honeyst may easily forgive you, but we can talk about all of this when we meet. _

_ Boss: Of course we can’t meet out in the open. Though I’m sure you already had somewhere in mind? _

Jin Jin took a picture of the messages and sent it to Jihun and the Chief. He wanted to respond already, but he needed to speak with the Chief first.

A few minutes later, his door burst wide open as the Chief entered his room. Jin Jin had gone back to sleep and only woke to the sound of the door opening. After realizing who had entered the room, he jumped out of bed and stood at attention. “Good morning, Sir.”

The Chief was calm and collected but his breathing strained as if he had just ran after receiving the screenshots. “Good morning Agent Jinwoo. I’m glad…” He smiled wide “No, ecstatic to see he fell for it so quickly!” His smile faded “But we still have a lot to prepare before you can meet with him. For now do not respond. I want him to ANXIOUSLY wait for your response.” He grinned maliciously.

Jin Jin could only nod and keep his sights away from the older man. He was still groggy from having been suddenly woken. His body swayed from side to side as he tried to keep his balance and eyes open.

The Chief looked at the time on his watch, “I shall let you get back to your sleep.” His grin turned into a frown “Jihun should have already been here by now!’” WIthout another word, he motioned Jin Jin to the bed, left the room and closed the door.

Jin Jin flopped back down onto his bed and went back to sleep.

——————————————————————

“Where were you?”

Jihun shivered in place as he stood before the Chief’s desk, “I’m sorry, sir. My phone died.”

A knife went whizzing past the left side of his head, just barely skimming his ear. The Chief stamped one into his desk, “Excuses! You know how important it is and now I had to reschedule it because you weren’t there!” He got up and walked around his desk- playing with another knife in his hands, “Agent Jihun, I understand you don’t like Agent Jinwoo” He leaned against his desk and continued to play with the knife. “But I need you to cooperate with him until everything is done.”

He spun the knife on the tip of one finger. “Once Fantagio is no more and Noh Taeyoon is in my grasps…” The knife in his hand disappeared and suddenly appeared next to the first one on the door behind Jihun. “Then, he is no longer of any use.”

Jihun’s legs shook as the man continued to speak. He could feel the blood from his right ear slowly making it’s way down his cheek. A small cut had been made by the second knife thrown at him. “Fa-... Chief, I promise to cooperate. When will we plan the trap?”

The Chief glared at him, “A month from now. Then in two months we’ll finally get our hands on Taeyoon... For now, continue to have KNK train with Astro.”

“What do we do about Astro after Agent Jinwoo is gone?”

The Chief grinned and went back to his seat. “I believe you already know the answer to that Jihun. That is all for today. You are dismissed.”

Jihun bowed and left. As he walked through the door, the Chief called out to him, “One more thing Agent Jihun: I’ve told you this before and I hope this is the last time I need to remind you; never call me ‘Father’ again.”

Jihun turned back to him, nodded his head and left- closing the door behind him.

——————————————————————

“Are you guys afraid of Jihun-ssi?” Sanha blurted out to the three members of KNK.

Astro and KNK, minus their leaders walked down the halls to the training center. Sanha’s question caught them off guard and for Astro they wanted to smack him on the back of the head.

None of KNK responded to his question, but MJ could tell the answer by the look of anxiety and trauma in their eyes. They were deathly afraid of him. MJ made eye contact with Sanha and slightly nodded his head.

“I just want to understand.” Sanha continued “You see, back at Fantagio everyone is family and the only one we’re really afraid of is the big boss…” He tried to find any changes in their facial expression but nothing. “But over here, it’s so dead- like no one has emotions. The halls are so quiet and dreary. Any conversations are always about training and missions- it’s just so serious!” Still no change. The other members of Astro remained quiet. “When we talk to you guys, it’s obvious there’s more to you than just training and being serious, but whenever Jihun-ssi is in sight, you guys go quiet. Why is that?”

Heejun glanced at the other two members but they avoided him. He sighed and stopped walking. Everyone naturally stopped in place and looked at him curiously. They were alone in the dimly lit hall- not a sound of footsteps to be heard. Heejun stepped close to Sanha and looked up into his eyes, “Sanha, if you’re going to stay here at YNB, you need to learn to keep your mouth shut or else your dead.”

Sanha could see the trauma in the older one’s eyes as they quivered. “Jihun almost killed two of our old teammates during punishment for failing a mission one time. He’s made us kill old friends and teammates that wanted out or spoke badly against: him, the Chief or YNB in general.” His eyes became glossy and his voice wavered, “We’ve had our fair share of punishments. So YES, we’re scared of him.”

He stepped back- his body shaking from remembering all the punishments they’ve gone through. Seungjun caught Heejun from falling over and looked at Sanha, “One of our members is currently on the run with nowhere to go, but he’s free and happy.” He looked at his younger two members and back to Sanha, “We pushed him to leave. Us however, we can’t risk leaving together with nowhere to go and if one of us leaves, we’d be leaving the other two to receive punishment.”

Sanha looked at his hyungs. Eunwoo and MJ were looking at each other. Bin and Rocky had smirks on their faces. It was obvious to him that they had unanimously had the same idea. MJ walked up closer to the three members of KNK. “We won’t lie to you. You know our loyalty is only to Jinwoo and we don’t have anything against our friends back at Fanta. We don’t care about the fight between Fanta and YNB; and we’re not dumb. We know once the Chief has what he wants, he is going to want to get rid of us, but... what if you join us?”

Inseong stepped closer, “What do you mean join you?”

MJ smiled brightly and whispered to the group, “Let’s take down YNB together.”

Eunwoo stepped towards them and in that moment the light-fixture above them grew brighter, “Let’s start our own company.”


	15. A Sparing Match

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jin Jin slowly inched forward as Jihun took a full step forward. Jihun jumped over the shaky Jinwoo and landed behind him. Jin Jin turned around quickly, but not before Jihun could kick behind his knee causing Jinwoo to fall off.

Jihun watched from the observation room above as his members and Astro spared and trained in the room below. He pretended not to see Jin Jin walk in and sit on the couch behind him.

The room was small but unlike the training room and the majority of the rooms at YNB, the cement walls were painted white, the dark wooden flooring was clean and polished, and the light was bright. Jihun stood in front of the holographic panel as he continued to watch them train tirelessly.

“I don’t understand what you enjoy about watching others train. Wouldn’t you rather be training WITH them?” Jin Jin crossed his legs and leaned back into the comfortable couch. “Though, I do see why you like this room so much.”

Jihun just rolled his eyes and didn’t bother to look back at him, “You’re a pain you know that?”

“Mmhmm. But you wouldn’t dare tell the Chief that now would you?” Jin Jin got up and walked up next to him. “It’s been a while since the last time we spared.” From below, Sanha made eye contact with Jin Jin and started to wave to him. Jin Jin smiled and pointed to MJ who was training Sanha at the moment.

“I beat you that time. Are you saying you want a repeat?” Jihun smirked.

“You got lucky, I started to blank out during the match.”

“Well then, I accept your challenge. But, why don’t we make it more interesting?” Jihun faced him.

“I’m intrigued.” Jin Jin also faced him and stared him down “What’s on the table?”

“If I win, you’re beloved~ team receives punishment from me.” From the grin on his face, Jin Jin knew Jihun wouldn’t hold back on the punishment- if anything, he would be even harsher on them than his own team. “If you win, they don’t receive punishment.”

“That doesn’t seem like a fair trade off and you know it... How about: if I win Astro gets out of training for the rest of the month AND KNK gets put under my care for the remainder of the month as well?”

Jihun clicked his tongue and held out his hand, “Fine. It’s a deal.” Jin Jin grabbed his hand with a grin on his face. “But I assure you Jinwoo, I’m going to win.”

“Don’t get so cocky, Jihun. Just cause I’ve been on bed rest majority of the past few months doesn’t mean I’m rusty.” The two of them continued their stare off as they shook hands to seal the deal.

——————————————————————

Everyone froze when the door opened. Jin Jin and Jihun walked side by side, both with fire in their eyes. The room filled with tension as both Astro and KNK members put down whatever was in their hands and moved aside.

Jin Jin and Jihun stepped up onto the matted area set up for sparring. Jin Jin took off his hoodie and handed it to MJ while Jihun handed his watch to Seungjun on the other side of the mat. They stood at the ready as Eunwoo did the countdown.

“Three.”

Jihun smirked.

“Two.”

Jin Jin stared Jihun down and bettered his stance.

“One.”

Jihun whispered, “Eric”, but, to his surprise, Jin Jin remained unfazed causing him to frown.

“Fight!”

Jihun didn’t wait for Jin Jin to make a move. He pounced at him with an uppercut. Jin Jin, on the other hand, saw it coming and dodged to the side. He fell to the floor and swept Jihun off his feet. He swiftly took hold of Jihun’s confusion and put him into an arm bar, pinning him down unable to make a move.

“First of three points, Jin Jin!” Eunwoo announced as Jin Jin let got of Jihun and they went back to starting positions. “Next match will be with knives. Direct blows will be considered disqualification.”

“Three.”

Inseong handed both agents a blunt knife.

“Two”

They readied themselves.

“One.”

Jihun’s body was jittering, ready to pounce once more, but Jin Jin still remained calm.

“Fight!”

Just as he expected, Jihun pounced forward straight for Jin Jin’s throat. Jin Jin used his knife to block it and slid down between the other’s legs. Jihun turned around to face Jin Jin as he got up and was greeted by the shorters taunting.

He flipped his knife and aimed the butt towards Jin Jin’s right lung, but left his left side wide open. Jin Jin took the opportunity and also launched forward aiming for the throat. Jihun flipped the knife. They stopped simultaneously, Jin Jin’s knife barely glazing Jihun’s throat and Jihun’s knife half an inch away from piercing Jin Jin’s skin.

“Draw!” They both flipped their knives around and returned to their sides. Inseong took and put away the knives as Eunwoo continued, “Last match will be done on the balance beam. First to hit the ground loses.”

They both chose one end of the beam and climbed up. Jihun was comfortable on the beam while Jin Jin struggled to keep himself balanced.

“Ready!”

They both took their stances. Jin Jin’s body swayed while Jihun was perfectly still.

“Fight!”

Jin Jin slowly inched forward as Jihun took a full step forward. Jihun jumped over the shaky Jinwoo and landed behind him. Jin Jin turned around quickly, but not before Jihun could kick behind his knee causing Jinwoo to fall off.

“Jihun, first point!” Eunwoo helped Jin Jin up while Jihun jumped off the beam.

Seungjun handed Jihun his watch. “Per our usual sparring rules, tie breaker will be based on target hits over shots.” He glanced at MJ out of Jihun’s view.

As they walked over to the target area, everyone stayed quiet. The tension between Jihun and Jin Jin had only grown by the tie. They didn’t know what it was for nor what was at stake, but they knew it had to be something important.

In order to keep things fair, they had to take turns and use the same gun. Jihun went first; hitting four of the five disks that went flying past, using six bullets. Jin Jin also hit four of five but only used four bullets.

“Winner of the match is Jin Jin!” Everyone but Jihun clapped.

Jin Jin handed the gun to Seungjun and walked up to Jihun, “A deal’s a deal, Jihun. I won, meaning Astro doesn’t receive punishment plus, they are exempt from training for the rest of the month! Not only that, but KNK gets put under my care for the month.”

Astro shouted out for joy and the three members of KNK looked at Jihun in utter astonishment and confusion. Jihun just rolled his eyes, “A deal’s a deal. Do whatever you want.” He walked out and slammed the door behind him.

KNK walked up to Jin Jin. He looked up at Seungjun as he spoke, “Well, you three will be under my care for the rest of the month.”

“Um… What would you like us to do?”

Seungjun flinched at the sight of Jin Jin raising his hand. He closed his eyes expecting to get hit but when the hand gently landed on his shoulder, he cautiously opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

Jin Jin brightly smiled at them, “I want you guys to spend time with Astro.” He took his hand back and made eye contact with everyone, “You have all worked hard the past week and ALL deserve a break. But sadly, I need to send you guys on a mission. The three of you” he motioned at KNK “however, will go on a small trip… Well, errand for me.” He looked at the time on the clock hanging above the door. “Meet me in meeting room J at five pm sharp. Dismissed.”

Jin Jin walked passed Sanha and pulled him along with him out the door. KNK had lost looks on their faces. Bin lightly shoved Seungjun and motioned for them to follow. They spent the rest of the time before the meeting to wash up and relax- a concept that was new to KNK

——————————————————————

Jin Jin sat at the end of the table waiting for the few remaining members to come in. MJ walked in with Sanha following close behind. MJ sat down in a vacant seat next to Jin Jin and Seungjun, while Sanha sat down between Rocky and Bin.

“Good. Now that everyone is here, I can explain the ‘errand’ I’d like you to run for me.” He took out an envelope from his back pocket, “Usually I stop by the orphanage to drop off my monthly donation, but the Chief just moved up our planning meeting. Meaning, I won’t be able to go there to drop it off. So, I’d like to ask all of you to drop it off and spend time with the kids in my stead.”

“Kids?!? THIS is supposed to be a trip?” Inseong slapped his face with his hand.

“Trust me, Inseong. It’ll be a refreshing experience. Plus you might learn a thing or two while you’re there. I’ve already contacted the Head Mistress over there so, she’s well aware of your arrival.” He handed the sealed envelope to Heejun who was sitting next to him. “As for Astro, I’d like you to go to the forest and find this” He pulls up a picture on his phone and sends it to the members, “It’s a very rare species of mushroom. They grow in high altitudes within dense forests. They have been found a few miles away from the top of our highest mountain, Mount Kyler, within the east side of the mountain.” 

“Due to a rockslide that happened a few months ago, the known supply of mushrooms is now gone and we’re running low on stock. Research team has asked for me to send you to search the rest of the mountain for a new source. The mushrooms are used for nanite research and losing our only supply had taken a huge hit on their research. It is very important that we find a new supply asap. That’s why, KNK, after you finish at the orphanage, I want you to meet up with Astro and help with the search. You will all leave first thing tomorrow morning and will not return until you have searched the entire mountain. Jihun and I will message you in case of an emergency. You’re dismissed.”

KNK were first to leave, leaving Astro alone in the room once more. Eunwoo handed Bin his room key, “You three go ahead and start packing. MJ-hyung and I will be there soon.”

The youngest three began to walk out. Sanha trailing behind the two. Jin Jin called out to him, “Sanha! Don’t forget what I told you.” Sanha smiled and gave him a thumbs up before quickly catching up to the other two.

MJ looked at Jin Jin, “What are the mushrooms for?”

Jin Jin leaned in closer, “They’re for research on how to reverse the effects of the nanites. But, Seungkwan told me that some people on the research team told him that there’s a chance the mushrooms can also be used for a method to remove the nanites. Either way, they need the mushrooms for my medicine but, if we can find a big enough supply, Seungkwan said he should be able to convince them to secretly focus research on how to get the nanites out.”

MJ’s eyes lit up and he hugged the younger one, “That’s great news!”

Eunwoo leaned in and whispered, “But, what happens if we don’t find a new supply.”

Jin Jin’s brows furrowed, “You already know...”

MJ let go of Jin Jin, “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find a new source! By the way, Eunwoo told you about the new plan already right?”

Jin Jin nodded his head, “Yes, he did and I agree with it. Taking down YNB will weaken a lot of the lawless companies, but creating a company that any agent would feel comfortable to run to for help would be great! A company that gives others options they didn’t think they had. I think it’s perfect.”

Eunwoo got up, “Then all that’s left is for all the plans to move into motion.”

Jin Jin and MJ followed his lead and got up from their seats. Jin Jin pulled out his phone and dialed a number, “Lily, can you meet me at my room for the check up?... Yes, thank you. Oh, and bring Maru with you too.”

He looked at the two, “The gears are slowly moving.” He smiled and guided them out the door.


	16. Plan in Motion 2.0

“Agent Jinwoo, have they left for Mount Kyler yet?”

Jin Jin stood next to Jihun comfortably, “They are packing the cars to leave as we speak, sir. KNK will leave to run my errand and will catch up with Astro afterwards.”

The Chief smiled, sitting comfortably at his desk. “Agent Jihun, as punishment for losing to Agent Jinwoo, you will spend the rest of the month living in the training room. Anytime I stop by, you should be training or in the shooting range. Understood?”

Jihun stood with his arms on his sides- hands in tight fits. “Understood, sir.”

“Now onto more important things. Agent Jinwoo, in two weeks, you will meet with the Boss of Fantagio, back where the old nanite factory was.” The Chief wrote on a piece of notepad and handed the paper to Jin Jin. “That’s the exact coordinates you can give to him. In order for us to effectively capture him, you will need to put him to sleep. Whether you use drugs or knock him out is up to you. While the two of you meet, the rest of our agents, along with Jihun will be lurking in the shadows waiting to retrieve you two.”

Jin Jin looked at the coordinates and back at the Chief, “Understood, sir. I will message him once we are done meeting. Will Astro and KNK be joining in the retrieval?”

“No, I need them to focus on the mushrooms for now. You are dismissed.”

Jin Jin bowed his head, “Understood, sir.” He glanced and smirked at Jihun as he walked past him and out the heavy doors.

“Agent Jihun, I can’t believe you let him beat you! You’re supposed to be next in line but so far it seems as though I should get rid of you and keep Agent Jinwoo instead.” The Chief leaned forward, placing his elbows on the desk and brought his intertwined hands up to support his chin.

“No! He’s not even from here! He has no right to take my place!” Jihun couldn’t help but shout. He had gone through so much training and punishment just to get to where he was. Just to please the person who raised him. Just to prove to him that he can meet his expectations. Yet now, Jinwoo was starting to get in his way. “That spoiled brat has no place here and I will prove to you that I am worthy of being next in line!”

The Chief’s face remained stoic. “You better- or else, you’ll be the one to go missing.”

Jihun stood confidently, “I promise you, sir. By the time this mission is over I will have proved to you I’m worthy.”

“Dismissed.”

——————————————————————

Sanha ran down the corridors, lost, trying to find his way to the garage. The others, including KNK were already at their respective cars packing- he however, had forgotten to pack the night before and was rushing to pack while the others left him behind.

As he turned the corner, he ran straight into someone causing them to bounce off each other and fall to the floor.

“Watch where you’re going!” Sanha looked up at the familiar voice, his bag having landed on his stomach, blocked his view of the other person. “Sanha? What are you doing running around here?”

Lily picked up his bag and helped him up.

“Lily!” Sanha blushed as he took his bag from her “Sorry to bump into you... We’re supposed to be leaving but I got lost…”

“It’s ok. You could’ve just called me and I would’ve helped you. Here I’ll guide you to the… garage- I assume?”

Sanha looked down into her eyes as he shyly nodded his head. “Thank you…”

She gently smiled, “No problem. Anyways, I need to get you out of this area a.s.a.p.”

For the first time, Sanha looked around and realized the corridor was much different from the usual corridors. This hallway was brightly lit, painted white walls, and instead of blocked out rooms, all of the rooms had large panel windows to peer inside. Inside, people with lab coats- one room a few down the hall, men in full astronaut-like suits. He couldn’t help but ask, “What is this area?”

Lily’s smile disappeared. She glanced around to make sure no one was nearby and she hurried her pace. Sanha followed her lead and also began to walk faster.

She walked closely next to him and whispered, “It’s the research facility. I’m not sure how you were even able to get in, but either way, you shouldn’t be seen here. Only those part of the research are allowed here.”

“Research as in… the nanites?”

Lily nodded as she scanned her ID to the heavy safety doors that separated the research hall from the rest of the dark corridors.

“Then what were you doing there?” He whispered as they casually walked down the empty halls- his eyes still adjusting to the change in lighting

She sighed as she opened the pouch around her waist. It was filled with vials of purple liquid. “It’s for Agent Jinwoo… His medicine…”

They remained quiet the rest of the time they walked. Sanha cautiously glancing at her every now and then. At first she had a serious expression on her face. A few glances later she looked sad. Then Sanha noticed her blushing and couldn’t look away. She glanced back at him and turned even more red. “W-we should hurry! I’m sure they’re looking for you.” She sped up and Sanha followed behind.

——————————————————————

“Please, Agent Seungjun! Let me go with you!” 

“No, Sanha! You need to go with Astro! That’s your orders.” Seungjun slammed the trunk of their van shut.

Jin Jin walked in to find Sanha and Seungjun going back and forth, while the others ignored them and continued to pack their bags and supplies into the cars. Astro using their recon van while KNK used one of the company’s vans. “Seungjun, it’s ok. He can go with you. It’ll be good for the kids too.”

Seungjun sighed and opened the trunk for Sanha to put his things in. Sanha excitedly threw his bag in and hugged Jinwoo.

Jin Jin whispered into Sanha’s ear as he hugged him back, ‘Don’t forget what you need to do.”

“I won’t, hyung.” Sanha smiled and waved to Astro who were ready to close their doors. KNK plus, Sanha took off first.

Jin Jin waved goodbye as Astro also took their leave. Lily, who was watching from the doorway, walked up to him and handed him a vial. “Thank you, Lily. Are preparations going smoothly?”

She nodded as she closed her pouch, “Yes, sir. Between Maru and I, we’ve gotten a good number.”

He smiled, “Good. Let’s hope everything goes to plan.” Jin Jin looked out into the forest as the large garage doors closed, “For now, it’s all up to them.”


	17. The Orphanage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heejun laughed and whispered to Sanha, “Wasn’t he the one that was complaining about kids?” Sanha laughed in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those still reading this fic thank you so much! This is the last chaptered fic of Spy Works and I do hope you stay with me to the end <3

As Heejun parked the van across the street from the orphanage. It was still early in the day, but the sounds of children could be heard drifting out from the slightly open windows.

With Sanha and the rest of Astro still being hunted down, Eunwoo had to check surveillance for them. Once Seungjun received the all clear text from Eunwoo they got out of the car and entered through the main doors.

The chime echoed through the lobby. A woman’s voice, the same woman Sanha had met when he was first there, could be heard on the other side of the door, “I’ll be right there!”

Sanha watched carefully as the three KNK members looked around at the pictures and posters. Heejun noticing the picture with Jin Jin, Eric and the Boss called out to the others, “Hyungs! Check this out! Isn’t this Agent Jinwoo??”

Inseong looked closely, “You’re right. That must be the head of Fantagio then.” He pointed to the young Noh Taeyoon “But who’s the other kid? He looks familiar.”

Sanha skipped over to them and pretended to look curiously at it. Nonchalantly, “Oh! I’ve seen pictures of him. He was already gone when I joined, but he’s really well known even till now. He’s an agent so honored that his picture is next to all of the previous heads of Fantagio. There were even rumours he WAS supposed to be next in line after the Boss.”

Seungjun turned around to him, “What happened to him?”

“Did he run away?” Heejun joked.

“He died.” Sanha answered with a serious look on his face. Heejun’s smile faded as Sanha continued, “Actually, Jin Jin- hyung is the one that killed him.”

“What?!?” Inseong shouted. “Why would he do such a thing? They look so close in this picture.”

“And they were! Jin Jin- hyung hadn’t even moved on until recently too, but he had no other choice.”

Seungjun’s brows furrowed, “Did he kill him so he could take over as heir to be next in line?”

Sanha sighed, “No, it’s nothing like that. Do you know about Hyung’s final initiation?”

Inseong sat down on the bench in front of the picture, “Ya, there was someone pretending to be a double agent but he got caught… And Agent Jinwoo had to… Wait…”

Sanha nodded, “Yes. That person was Eric-ssi. Also known as Jin Jin- hyung’s adopted brother.”

“But that’s not in his file? All it says in his file is that Agent Eric was the one to recruit Agent Jinwoo into YNB. It never said anything about them growing up together?!?” Heejun plopped down next to Inseong.

“That’s because hyung isn’t really a double agent. Just like Eric-ssi and us, he’s pretending to be a double agent. But when things went wrong, the only way he could keep his cover was to kill the person he cared for the most. The only reason Hyung decided to keep going with it was because he wanted revenge not on Fantagio and the Boss but on the person who forced him to kill his brother, the Chief; and to finish what Eric-ssi started- to take down YNB.”

Seungjun’s mouth was left agape as he sat down next to the two, “I thought we had it rough… I can only imagine what he went through… That’s why you guys are so persistent on taking down YNB. To help Agent Jinwoo on his quest?”

Sanha thought about it for a moment, “Yes and no? We all want to take down YNB for the good of the people and those that are miserable there like you guys, but of course, we also want to help hyung because we don’t want him to struggle alone…” He took a few steps back and looked at the picture, “I guess you can say it’s the same as the three of you not wanting to leave the other to punishment?”

Sanha watched as the three looked at each other in silence. It was obvious the three of them were conflicted, more now than ever. But, just when Sanha was about to speak up again, the woman came in with a baby sleeping soundly in her arms.

“I’m so sorry! I had to finish serving the children food. Ah! You must be who Jinwoo sent. Thank you so much for stopping by to help.” She smiled brightly and noticed Seungjun staring at the baby as he handed her the envelope, “Would you like to try holding her?”

“Ah… I’ve… I’ve never held a baby before…” He blushed from ear to ear.

She giggled, “It’s ok, here.” She gently handed him the baby and fixed his arms to hold the baby comfortably. The baby smiled in its sleep and Seungjun couldn’t help but feel in awe. “She was just dropped off a few days ago. You know, the typical someone left her in a basket at the front desk. We put out a notice for found baby but still, no one has claimed her. Luckily, she’s willing to drink the powdered milk.”

Inseong stared at her in amazement, “What’s her name?’

“Oh… Well she doesn’t have one yet. You see, I’m the only full time caretaker here with now twenty children to take care of with ages ranging from months to teens. I’m lucky enough that some of the children are mature enough to help out around here and to have volunteers like the four of you and Jinwoo! Anyways, I haven’t really had time to think of a name for her, but if you have any, I’d be open to hearing them!” She smiled and glanced at the three members of KNK as she counted the money.

The three of them looked at each other and back to the baby. Seungjun smiled, “What about Bell?” The other two immediately nodded in agreement. “You see, she has the same smile as a friend of ours that we… that passed away. Her name was Bell but we used to call her Tinkerbell because of how well she worked with machines.”

The woman looked at them softly and hummed, “I think it’s a beautiful name.”

Seungjun carefully and clumsily passed the baby to Inseong. The baby slowly woke up in his arms but instead of crying she just looked at him curiously and smiled. He felt his heart warm up and began to play with the baby.

Heejun laughed and whispered to Sanha, “Wasn’t he the one that was complaining about kids?” Sanha laughed in response.

The woman finished recording the amount and placed it into a safe, “Well, would you like to meet the other kids? I’m sure they’d love to play with you. They’ll be going out for outdoor time soon.”

“Outdoor time? What’s that?” Seungjun asked as they followed her to the other room.

“Well, on the weekends, since they don’t have school, they have food time, nap time, study time and outdoor time. The rest of the time is free time for them to do whatever they want as long as they stay within the orphanage grounds. We started to implement outdoor time because some of the kids would stay indoors all day, so it’s our way of making sure they go out and get some sun.”

Inseong, still holding the baby, carefully passed her to the woman. “Wow… I’ve never seen an orphanage take such good care for the children?”

She sighed, “Yes, many orphanages are like how this one used to be. But with the help of the Nam Foundation, many orphanages are getting more support than ever and are getting caretakers that actually care about the children.”

“What about the new children and teens? I’m sure they must be rebellious.” Inseong asked. A reminiscing look filled his eyes.

The woman laughed, “Of course, when you get put into a sudden new environment and situation it becomes difficult. That’s why we’re patient with them and the children close to their age or older try to be friends with them. A lot of the teens help with the transitioning. Everything here is about teamwork and understanding.” She smiled and opened a door leading into a cafeteria.

Inside children were talking, eating and some playing hand games. Various voices and laughter filled the air. About eight round tables fitting six seats each filled the room- two short enough for the younger children’s feet to reach the ground. Two teenagers walked around helping kids clean up after themselves, while one fed a toddler at one of the tables.

“Attention!” The Head Mistress called out and the room fell silent almost instantly. “These are Jinwoo-ssi’s friends! Jinwoo-ssi wasn’t able to come today anymore but he made sure to ask his friends to stop by and play for a bit!” The children cheered. “Now go wash your hands if you haven’t already and head outside.” The room became loud again. The children got up, some cleaning, some running out the door and some taking their time to go outside.

The woman turned around, Bell had fallen asleep again despite the noise, “You can go outside. The children will introduce themselves to you one by one. I’ll be out soon- I just need to change her diaper. Now if you’ll excuse me.” She smiled and walked back out the doors they had just gone through.

Sanha skipped to the door leading to the backyard, “Well? C’mon!”

——————————————————————

Inseong walked around the playground. Kids running around; teens playing on the basketball court; and one kid all by himself near the bushes, his back turned to the world.

He quietly approached the boy and squat down next to him. The kid was about six years old and watching a caterpillar eating a leaf out of amazement. “Hi! What are you doing over here? You don’t want to play with the other kids?”

The boy stayed quiet and just continued to watch. The woman came up behind them and tapped on Inseong’s shoulder. She motioned for him to follow her a few steps away from the child.

“Sorry, he just came here a few weeks ago and hasn’t gotten situated yet. He’s ignored everyone that tries to talk to him, but he does listen. He’s a good kid.” Her brows furrowed and her eyes dropped. “It’s just sad what happened to him.”

“What happened?”

She looked at the child who was sitting where they had left him. “His parents passed away in an accident a few months ago. His only known relative was his aunt. About a month ago, she was found beating him. That’s when they took him away from her and brought him to us.” She looked back at Inseong, “It would be nice if he could open up. I’m sure he’s still trying to cope with his parents’ sudden death.”

Inseong gave her a half smile as she walked away. He sat on the grass next to the boy and reminisce his own past. “You know, I was about your age when I was brought to the orphanage. Back then, no one cared for the children. We were starved, beaten, and punished almost every day. We had to follow strict rules that kept us from being kids. It was horrible, but to make it worse, I was still mourning my father’s death.”

The boy continued to watch the caterpillar but his head was tilted towards Inseong- a sign he was listening to him.

“I was just like you. I would sit in the corner by myself and watch the world pass by. I wish I made friends back then. Maybe if I did… I would’ve had a better life.”

The boy looked at him, “Do you miss your dad?”

Inseong smiled, “I miss him everyday, but I think I disappointed him by acting the way I did when I was younger.”

The boy started to tear up, “Are they disappointed in me?”

He shook his head in response, “No. You didn’t do anything wrong! I’m sure they’d want you to be happy and smiling.”

The boy started to cry, “But I don’t have family anymore!” The boy’s cries grew louder. Some of the older children nearby heard him crying and came running over.

Inseong pat the kid’s head, “But, you do have a family. Look. They’re your family.”

One boy, around twelve years old, hugged the boy. To everyone’s surprise he hugged him back and cried in his arms.

Inseong noticed Sanha standing nearby and walked over to him, “Did you hear?”

Sanha nodded, “I guess a lot of people in this line of business has had a hard childhood.”

Inseong looked around for Heejun and Seungjun, but they were on the other side of the yard. “Sanha, I’ve decided... I’ll join you guys, BUT only because I want out. I want to help take care of children like him. I don’t want children to go through the same things I did and I know there are orphanages out there that still go by old ways.”

“What about the others?”

“I’ll talk to them. I’m sure they’re thinking about it just as much as I have.” The boy had stopped crying and now the other kids were introducing themselves to him. The woman came by with baby Bell in her arms and introduced them to each other. The boy began to smile and a few minutes later was already running around playing with the other kids.

——————————————————————

“Thank you, again, for playing with the children today. Especially you, Inseong-ssi. Thank you for helping him open up to us.” She shook his hand and took the baby from Seungjun. “Always feel free to come by anytime! Our doors are always welcome to you.” She smiled and walked them out.

The car ride to Mount Kyler was a silent one. Seungjun drove the whole time while Sanha and Heejun slept in the back seat. Inseong was wide awake but just looked out the window.

After some time, Seungjun finally spoke up, “You agreed to do it didn’t you?”

Inseong continued to look out the window, “Yes. I want out of this life. I want out of YNB.”

Seungjun kept his eyes on the road, “Aren’t you scared? If they fail, you could die.”

He finally looked away from the window and looked at his friend, “And so could they. But even so, they’re risking their lives for the chance of making their dreams come true! We’re spies! We risk our lives everyday following orders, so why are we so scared to do it for ourselves and the people we care about? Imagine! The three of us have a chance to ALL be free, but what good is it if we don’t fight for it.”

Seungjun sighed, “When we get there, we’ll talk about this as a group.”

Inseong nodded and went back to looking out the window.

——————————————————————

It was already sunset when KNK and Sanha arrived at the campsite. Eunwoo was making dinner with a portable grill while the others were out searching. Sanha grabbed a walkie talkie and left to meet up with the others. KNK stayed behind to pitch their tents and told Eunwoo how their errand went.

“We’ve decided” Seungjun randomly stated as he added wood to the campfire.

“On?” Eunwoo turned to look at Seungjun. The bowl of sauce he was mixing still in hand.

“We’ll join you. All three of us. In your mission, but we won’t stay. We want out of this life. We’ll help you as long as you can promise to help us get a clean slate.” Heejun and Inseong stopped what they were doing and waited for Eunwoo’s reply.

“It’s a deal.” He smiled and put down the bowl. Seungjun got up and shook his hand. The rest of Astro came back just in time to see them shaking hands and smiling. A new look they had not seen in them before filled the members of KNK’s eyes- the look of determination.


	18. Time is Ticking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With KNK now on their side, how much will things change and what has happened to Jinwoo amongst their absence?

_ Jinwoo: I’m sorry, sir. I had to find an opening to text you. Can we meet here- N41o57’48.11”/W87o49’38.222” two weeks from today? 9am _

_ Boss: Yes, that’s fine. Do take care till then. _

_ Jinwoo: Yes, sir. You too. _

——————————————————————

Jin Jin walked down the hall Lily and Maru following him. As he turned the corner to an open space where multiple corridors led to, he was violently pushed against the wall.

After the initial shock subsided, he looked up to find Jihun fuming with anger- one hand in a fist ready to punch him and the other gripping onto his shirt, pushing him against the cold cement wall. “Once this is all over, I swear you’re dead!” He swung his fist towards Jin Jin’s face, but Lily and Maru held back his arm.

“Agent Jihun! He just took medicine! If you hit him now, he can really die!” Lily yelled in an effort to keep Jihun from punching him.

Jihun just shook them off and stomped away down the hall they had just come from. Lily and Maru held one side of Jin Jin each and kept him balanced. Lily checked his head for any injuries, “You hit your head hard when he pushed you. I don’t see any external injuries though. How are you feeling?”

“You mean, aside from the nanites? I feel perfectly fine.” He started to walk to their destination.

Maru let go of Jin Jin and frowned, “Why does Agent Jihun hate you so much?”

Jin Jin continued to walk on, “He takes after the Chief… He did have a point though, once our mission in complete, I’m a dead man walking.”

Lily hit his arm, “Don’t say that!” she looked around and fell into a whisper, “The research team is using the last of the mushroom supply to find a way to remove them for you! Let’s just hope your team finds more…” They remained silent the rest of the way to the medical ward.

——————————————————————

As soon as the moon was high in the sky, Astro ended their search and went back to camp. Eunwoo had set up a holographic map of the mountain and surrounding area and highlighted the areas they had already checked that day. Everyone sat around the campfire chatting and eating dinner.

“So with KNK now on our side, I think it’s only fair Eunwoo and I become transparent with all of you.” MJ announced as he grabbed an extra serving from the grill. “The mushrooms are currently being used for two things: one is research; and the other is Jinwoo’s medicine. But, Jinwoo received information that the research team is willing to secretly use the mushroom for extraction research.”

Eunwoo placed more food on Sanha’s plate next to him, “And we need to find it fast. Jin Jin-hyung has already set the meeting time with the Boss for two weeks from today and we need to be ready to spring the trap.”

Bin took a bite of the piece of meat MJ was feeding him, “When ARE we springing the trap? Doesn’t everyone involved need to know?”

MJ finished the piece of meat and got more, “No. We need to time it perfectly, so for now everyone is on call.” He shrugged his shoulders and sat back down “In theory, we want to do it while the Chief is alone with the Boss and Jin Jin in alone with Jihun. That way, we have both the Chief and Jihun distracted while we do our job.”

“But,” Eunwoo placed pieces of fish on the grill “because Jin Jin-hyung doesn’t know what the Chief is planning to do once the Boss is caught, we have to wait and see how things go.”

Seungjun swallowed the food in his mouth, “There seems to be a lot of uncertainty to this plan. With the Chief and Jihun, it’ll be hard to tell what those two are thinking let alone planning. At this point anything could happen.”

“That’s why we really have to rely on numbers.” Eunwoo flipped the fish pieces over “The Boss and Jin Jin can handle themselves one on one, but, as far as we know, we’re the ones going against half of the company. If you guys know anyone else you can recruit or convince, please do talk to them. Our end has to be complete team effort.”

Inseong took the last piece of meat ready to eat on the grill, “So our priority for the next two weeks in recruiting and finding the mushrooms, ya?” Eunwoo nodded as he finished grilling the fish.

Seungjun took a few pieces of cooked fish before the others could, “We should sleep early and get a head start in the morning. I say we split up into two groups to cover more ground.” The others nodded and the conversation strayed into random topics as they finished their dinner.

Before dawn broke, Eunwoo and Heejun began to wake the others. They separated into two groups: Seungjun, Inseong, MJ, and Eunwoo; and the other Moonbin, Heejun, Sanha, and Rocky. They were currently camped on the eastern side of the mountain not far from where the known supply had been and checked the area the day before. Moonbin’s group went to the northern side of the mountain while Seungjun’s group went to the southern side.

Eunwoo had given them each a tracking device that can connect to the map at camp, “This way, we can accurately track what specific areas we’ve checked. Only press the trigger if you’ve found any mushrooms. That way, we can see how large of an area the mushrooms we’ve found is.”

From dawn to dusk, they searched everyday, every inch of the mountain until no area had gone untouched, but nothing. However, they continued their search, adamant to return with good news. Unbeknownst to them, Jin Jin’s condition had worsened since.

——————————————————————

Jin Jin sat up and ate from the tray of food in front of him. He was surrounded by sounds of beeping. White walls surrounded him, outside the viewing window next to the door, he could see Lily and Maru speaking with one of the in-house doctors and head researcher.

His body felt heavy as he lifted up the utensils and ate. After Jihun had pushed him against the wall, the three of them continued to the medical ward for his full check up. However, before they could reach the ward, Jin Jin fainted.

From the window he could see the head researcher and doctors walk away, leaving Maru and Lily to talk amongst themselves. A few moments later, the Chief appeared and talked to the two of them. Jin Jin’s hands grew shaky as he tried to finish his meal. Maru, noticing Jin Jin struggle, came in, took the utensils from him, and fed the rest of his food to him.

Lily walked in with the Chief, a look of despair on her face. “Agent Jinwoo, the blow to your head, though slight, caused the nanites to malfunction more. After taking the rest of the day to regain your strength, you should be fine. But for now, you will need to stay here under observation.”

The Chief was displeased- his brows were furrowed and his arms across his chest. “Jihun will receive proper punishment.” He looked at Maru and Lily. “Leave us.” The two of them bowed: Maru took the empty tray and left with Lily. The Chief moved the over-the-bed table out of the way and looked at Jin Jin sternly, “Agent Jinwoo, we will need to push the meeting with Noh Taeyoon to this Saturday.”

“This Saturday? That’s only three days away…” Jin Jin looked at Lily who was watching from the window. “Understood, sir. I will contact him immediately.” The Chief left with a frustrated look. Lily came back in and sat in a chair next to the bed.

Jin Jin didn’t hesitate to get straight to the point, “Lily, be honest, what’s my condition?”

“After the nanites malfunction, I’m sure you can feel it but, they’ve started to attack your nervous system. Even with the current medicine we have you on, it’s not going to help.” Maru walked in as Lily continued, “The only way we can help you now is by removing them…”

“How much time do I have left?”

“At most…. A week.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you seen Blue Flame yet???


	19. Ticking Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jin Jin's time is ticking and so is their timeframe to complete their mission.

“Let’s say, Astro miraculously finds a new source within the next few days. Even then, researchers wouldn’t be able to find a cure in time.” Jin Jin sighed, “Maru, please hand me both phones.”

Maru did as he was asked while Lily whispered her response, “What if they ALREADY found a way to remove it?”

Jin Jin took the phones and looked at her confused, “They figured it out within a few days?”

“Yes! They didn’t sleep trying to find a way to remove the nanites for you!” Her eyes were bright with hope “With the research they were doing before the Chief had them stop, along with what they’ve learned while making your medicine, it made it easier to find a way to remove them! All we need now is more of the mushrooms to recreate the potion that will kill them.” Maru stood behind her. “You can’t give up…”

Jin Jin sighed, “My main concern right now is giving everyone a better future by taking down YNB.” He turned on both phones “Lily, you know where I have my will hidden when the time comes right?”

Lily’s eyes fell, “Yes.”

“Good. You two go get lunch. I won’t go anywhere.” He smiled reassuringly but the two still looked concerned as they left.

——————————————————————

_ Jinwoo: I’m sorry sir, but can we meet this saturday? Same time. Same place. It’s become quite urgent. _

_ Boss: Yes, I shall meet you then. _

——————————————————————

“Everyone! Jin Jin-hyung just texted me, we have an emergency!” Eunwoo yelled into the walkie talkie. Everyone was scattered in their areas and each held onto a walkie-talkie for communication purposes.

MJ could see Eunwoo from his area and looked at him, “What’s wrong?!?”

“Jin Jin-hyung’s meeting with the Boss got pushed forward to THIS Saturday. We only have two days to find mushrooms if we want the plan to succeed.”

Bin calmly spoke into the walkie “We’ll find it. We definitely will! Even if we have to sacrifice sleep just to do so then we will.”

“Good then let’s pick up the pace.”

——————————————————————

Seungjun, Inseong, Eunwoo and MJ all converged to the center of their search area. All of them were displeased with their search and all the more with the news they had received. It was already one in the morning- the moon hid behind the clouds making the forest even darker. Each of them held firmly to their flashlights as they conversed on their next steps.

They only had twenty-four hours to find the mushrooms before Jin Jin would leave to meet with the Boss. They had already triple checked the entire mountain and had gone the past two days without any sleep. They were exhausted and stressed out.

MJ pointed his flashlight to the ground in hopes of miracuously finding the mushroom. “Hey, Eunwoo… Did Jinwoo mention anything else in his text? Like why it got pushed forward?”

Eunwoo shook his head. His flashlight suddenly turned off. “I’m out for the night… But no he didn’t….” he sighed “I just hope nothing bad happened.” He moved closer to Seungjun who shined his light at the two of them. “Agent Seungjun, can you tell us the truth? Is there something Jin Jin-hyung is possibly not telling us? Specifically, regarding the potion he’s been taking?”

Seungjun and Inseong looked at each other, the moon light peeking out from the clouds bringing some light to the forest. Inseong’s flashlight went out, “I guess I’m out too... Anyways, we’re sorry but we don’t know anything. The only ones that know any details about his condition and the potions are the Chief, Jihun, agents Lily and Maru, and of course himself.” Eunwoo and MJ’s faces fell dark from the response and the moon fell back behind the clouds.

MJ’s flashlight died and Seungjun pointed his towards their camp, “We should head back before mine dies too. It’ll be bad if we get lost in this darkness.”

As they walked back side by side, the static began to emerge from their walkies. “Hyungs!” Sanha’s voice echoed in the darkness. “Turn off your flashlights!”

Seungjun calmly replied through his walkie, “We’ll get lost if we turn it off.”

“No, trust me! Turn it off!”

Seungjun looked at Eunwoo for his opinion. Eunwoo looked at him confidently and nodded. Seungjun hesitantly flipped the switch. They were surrounded by darkness- only the moonlight seeping through the trees.

“Sanha! Why are we doing this!?! Nothing’s happening!” Bin yelled into his talkie, Heejun and Rocky talking in the background.

Sanha didn’t panic. He remained calm and confident in his response, “Just wait a minute. Trust me.”

Everyone was silent. Only the sounds of insects and the faint static from the walkie filled the air. The moon fell back behind the clouds causing the forest to go dark. Suddenly, the ground around them began to glow a bright purple.

“Eunwoo-hyung! Look at them closely! It’s the mushrooms, right?!? We’ve been surrounded by them the whole time, but they were so much smaller than we thought! The whole mountain is covered in baby mushrooms!” Sanha’s excitement flowed through to them despite the static.

The four of them knelt down and looked at the tiny mushrooms surrounding them. The entire mountain as far as they could see glowed a faint purple. The mushrooms seemed to still be growing but was widely spread throughout the mountain.

Rocky yelled into his walkie, “GOOD JOB, SANHA!”

MJ hugged Eunwoo, “Sanha found it… We did it… We really did it…” His voice cracked and his legs gave out, “We can save Jin Jin.” He smiled, tears of joy running down his face.

“Come on, hyung.” Eunwoo pulled him up and announced into his walkie “Let’s all get back to camp and get some rest. I’ll report the good news.” He took a picture of the glowing mountain and sent it to Jin Jin.

The rest of the night everyone slept restlessly and the morning came with weary bodies. Only the thought of getting back with good news pushed them to collect full grown mushrooms, pack, clean up and drive back to headquarters.

——————————————————————

Lily and Maru greeted them with forced smiles on their faces. Before any of them could ask them about Jin Jin, the two of them grabbed all of the mushrooms they were able to collect and ran straight to the research facility.

KNK went to their dorms weary and exhausted from the trip. Astro also went to their rooms to freshen up before leaving again to find Jin Jin. He had not been replying to their texts but had obviously read them as Lily and Maru had been waiting in the garage for their return.

Their first stop was his room. It was cold and dark with no sign of Jin Jin having been there recently. They then split up and went to the meeting rooms or training center. Eunwoo even stopped by the Chief’s secretary to see if he was meeting with the Chief but with no luck. They all met up again at the cafeteria to eat and found KNK with no knowledge of seeing him either.

After eating lunch, they decided to split up and look for Lily or Maru. After walking around their area of the building, Eunwoo and Rocky had no luck in finding anyone and decided to wait together in Jin Jin’s room and watch the time go by. By now it was already dark outside, but MJ, Bin and Sanha, were finally able to find someone.

Near the research center, was Sanha who had found Lily. She instantly hugged him causing him to freeze. His thoughts left him and he forgot all about what he was doing there. But the words she muttered is what really caused his mind to go blank.

On the other side of the building, near the training center, Bin had Jihun pinned against the wall. MJ trying to calm his boyfriend down. Bin fumed with anger- ready to punch the confident smirk off of Jihun’s face, “You’re lying!”

“Why don’t you guys go see for yourselves then~?”

Bin threw Jihun to the ground before letting him go and held on tightly to MJ’s hand as they ran down the corridor.

Lily let go of Sanha and repeated what she had muttered, “Agent Jinwoo is in a coma.”


	20. Emergency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rocky walked to the window, staring into the room, his hands firmly fisted. He turned around and sat next to Sanha. Sanha hugged his friend and the tears Rocky was trying to hold in came falling out.

Eunwoo and Rocky ran into the small room, panting. Sanha, Lily and Maru were sitting on the chairs against the wall while MJ was crying as he looked at Jin Jin through the viewing window, Bin hugging him from behind.

Rocky walked to the window, staring into the room, his hands firmly fisted. He turned around and sat next to Sanha. Sanha hugged his friend and the tears Rocky was trying to hold in came falling out.

Eunwoo stood next to MJ and Bin without a word. He just continued to stare into the room in utter disbelief.

Jin Jin laid on the bed. Various machines surrounding him and a mask providing oxygen, covered his mouth and nose. It was just as they were told, Jin Jin was in a coma.

——————————————————————

Astro and KNK were called together for an emergency meeting. They all waited in silence for Jihun to arrive, but when he did, he was not alone. With him was the Chief with a very unpleasant look on his face. 

“I’ll get right down to business.” He stood at the end of the table with Jihun next to him. “In the case that Agent Jinwoo does not wake up in time for the meeting tomorrow, I will meet with Taeyoon-ssi myself. Alone.”

Everyone was shocked by his statement and based on the look on Jihun’s face, Eunwoo could tell even he was unaware of this change.

The Chief continued “Everyone will remain here and Jihun will be in charge while I am gone. An announcement will be sent out to all main headquarters members once I have left. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” They shouted in harmony.

The Chief walked out, Jihun following close behind. All of them stood up to follow out the door, Heejun leading the way, but before he could go out, Lily blocked his way and motioned for everyone to go back inside.

Lily sat down at an open chair next to Sanha. Maru closed the door and sat next to her as she spoke, “As you all know, Agent Jinwoo is currently in a state of a coma. However,” her voice fell into a whisper “while you were gone, the research team was able to find a cure to kill and drain out the nanites, so while he’s in this state, they are secretly giving him the cure rather than the medicine as the Chief thinks they are.”

Sanha smiled, “That’s great news!”

Unlike Sanha, MJ still had a frown on his face, “And what about the side effects? What about all the damage the nanites has already done to him? What if he-” Bin, who was sitting next to him held his hand, “How do we know he’ll wake up?”

Lily looked at Maru. Maru taking the signal just sighed, “We’re not sure of the side effects since everything is just being given to him before fully testing them but the researchers and doctors all agreed there shouldn’t be any side effects aside from temporary ones like nausea, or flu-like symptoms. As for the damage the nanites have done… luckily majority of them can be reversed if he continues to take the medicine he was taking. He has had some nerve damage and once he wakes he’ll be under close watch as to how damaged they are.”

Seungjun cut in, “And how DO we know he’ll wake up for sure?”

Maru glanced at Lily before answering, “Just trust us. He will wake up.”

Before the others could say anything more, the two of them got up and headed for the door. Before opening the door, Lily turned around to them, “Even though Agent Jinwoo is in this state, don’t forget that we all have a mission to complete. Just like how he’s had to continue on with his despite having to kill his own brother... Oh, and another thing, tomorrow, leave Agent Jihun to us” With that, they left for the medical ward.

Eunwoo got up, “She’s right. With the Chief out of the way we can start our take over. Tell everyone on our side that the signal to begin our protest is when the announcement is received.”

Seungjun raised his hand, “What do we do about Jihun? Should we really leave him to those two?”

Eunwoo nodded his head, “They seem to have a plan of their own and if Jin Jin-hyung is the one that trained them, then I’m sure they can handle him.” 

No one replied. The air was heavy with worries, nerves and doubts. Eunwoo stood up from his chair, “Before I dismiss you, let’s go over the plan again. Start a protest in our assigned places: five main headquarters, including this one. Seungjun and Inseong will go solo to the two headquarters hidden in the city since they are well known there. Bin and Heejun will take the quarters to the west. Rocky and Sanha take the east; and MJ-hyung and I will stay here.”

Heejun rose his hand, “Neither Bin nor I have access to get into that headquarters though.”

“No worries.” Eunwoo waved his hand “As soon as the USB I gave the Chief was input, I was able to secretly gain access to the entire system. I’ll make sure all doors are unlocked before everyone gets to where they need to be.”

He paused smiled warm heartedly, “Thanks to everyone’s quick work, we were able to get a good number of people on our side, however still stay on guard. According to Seungkwan, Fantagio agents will be dispatched early in the morning, near each headquarters, in the case that fighting breaks out and we need assistance. We want to avoid fighting as much as possible! Our aim is to walk around the quarters and have other agents join in as we walk out. We need to work fast, those in the city will need to go to the nearest solitary headquarters and meet outside. Once everyone has been cleared out of the building, the three solitary headquarters will be destroyed.”

“Wait, but what about Jin Jin!?! He’s in a coma, we can’t just move him, the machines or his medicine!?!” MJ shouted out. Bin quickly covered the other’s mouth in an attempt to muffle his voice some.

“I’ve already talked to the research team, they’re secretly packing things away as we speak and our in-house doctors said they can safely transport him without any worries. So, once everyone has sent their go signals, the bombs we’ve secretly placed will be triggered.” 

“What about the Boss and the Chief?” Bin whispered, taking his hand off of MJ’s mouth.

“A few Fantagio agents as well as two of OUR agents will be following them as precautions and because of that, they’ll be able to update us. Just keep the special watches I gave you the other day close… I know we’re all nervous, but we have to do this. It’s the only chance we’ll get.” He placed his hand out in the middle of the table.

Sanha and Rocky placed their hands on top of his, “For Jin Jin-hyung.”

MJ and Bin placed theirs into the circle next, “For Eric-sunbaenim”

KNK placed theirs on top, “For our future.”

 “For everyone!” They cheered as they threw their hands up into the air and quickly left to get prepared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sad to see spyworks ending. Only two more chapters left :'(
> 
> Thank you again to those who are still reading this for all your love and support! I hope I've written a worthy ending to this series.


	21. The Final Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He snickered and pulled out a knife from his spy belt, “You don’t understand how much I’ve been waiting for this day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this was one of my favorite chapters to write for this fic. I hope you enjoy

_ Chief- 7:30am: Attention all YNB agents and trainees. Starting 8am, Agent Jihun will be in charge while I am away. Another announcement will be made once I have returned. _

At exactly 8am, Jihun saw the Chief off. KNK and Astro watched from a distance. Once Jihun left the garage, KNK and Astro stormed inside. Seungjun and Inseong each took a car: Sanha and Rocky rode with Inseong to be dropped off. Bin and Heejun took one of the surveillance cars. Eunwoo and MJ watched them all depart one by one. Jihun had disappeared and was nowhere to be seen, but they had to start gathering people. 

Slowly people they had already talked to gathered in the main hall ready for them to begin their protest. As they walked the halls, Eunwoo and MJ split the group up into two to cover more ground. Many asked questions as to what their plans were and many joined them in their walk. They were met with little resistance. Only a few attempted to resist, but after seeing the large number of people, they all escaped. Maru, Lily and Jihun were nowhere to be seen by either MJ or Eunwoo but they needed to continue their march.

Meanwhile, Seungjun and Inseong had no troubles with their settlements. The agents had already started destroying the place before they got their and were already waiting for them outside, ready to head out to the closest headquarters. Seungjun to the west and Inseong back to the east.

When Seungjun and group arrived at the western headquarters, gunshots could be heard from inside. Inside, Bin, Heejun and group were met with much resistance. The Fantagio agents dispatched nearby, had stormed the building after receiving a help signal from Bin. Seungjun and group ran in to help. An hour after they had arrived, those loyal to YNB had either escaped or turned themselves in. The building was cleared out and the ready signal was sent out to Eunwoo.

At the eastern headquarters, Sanha and Rocky were able to avoid resistance by announcing their plans. Everyone was moved by Sanha’s speech, instantly joined them and the building was cleared out. By the time Inseong and group arrived, the building was cleared out and ready for demolition. Rocky sent out the signal.

As Eunwoo, MJ and majority of those at the main headquarters tried to exit, a large number of faithful YNB agents from each of the quarters had gathered to block their main way out. In terms of number, Eunwoo and group were outnumbered. Eunwoo immediately messaged the others to blow up their buildings and start heading to the main for assistance. Fantagio agents nearby circled the resistance from behind but even then their numbers were still low.

Eunwoo received a message from the research team that they were cleared out but there was still no word from the medical team regarding Jin Jin. They had to not only fight their way out with a disadvantage, but also worry about prolonging the fight to give the medical team time. Eunwoo and MJ led the group into war hoping the others would arrive soon.

Meanwhile, two groups of people were unaware of the war occuring outside the main headquarters and those outside unaware of what was happening elsewhere.

——————————————————————

In the dense forests near the old nanite warehouse, the Chief hid- waiting for Noh Taeyoon to arrive. It was ten past nine and there was still no sign of him. The Chief was starting to become impatient when he realized that Noh Taeyoon must be hiding- waiting for Jin Jin to arrive.

He called over one of the agents with him that was about the same height as Jin Jin and had him put on a sweater another agent was wearing to hide his face. The YNB agent slowly walked out into the open near the rubble- carefully making sure his face couldn’t be seen from any angle.

A few moments later Noh Taeyoon came out to the opening, but instead of a smile on his face, he instantly put a gun to the YNB agent’s head, “Tell your boss to show himself.” The YNB agent immediately put his hands up in an attempt to show he wasn’t armed.

“Let the boy go, Taeyoon. This is between us.” The Chief walked out into the open and signaled for the YNB agent to go back into the forest. The agent did just as he was told and ran back.

“Noh Hyunjun, it’s been a while.” the Boss smirked as he holstered his gun and faced the Chief. “To think you’d really leave the safety of your agency just to come see me. Now that’s a sight.”

“Ha! Playing dumb now are we? As if you don’t do the same thing.” Hyunjun rubbed his chin “Ah, but then again you came to save your special agent right? Well have a seat my dear friend because I have bad news for you. Agent Jinwoo is currently in a coma and with my hier filled with jealousy and alone without my supervision, Agent Jihun will most likely kill him in his sleep.”

The Chief smirked as the Boss sat down on a large piece of rubble. He couldn’t wait to see the look of hopelessness in his face and began to walk towards him. The Boss’s covering his face with his hands his shoulders began to shake. Hyungjun felt triumphant! In fact, even ecstatic! But his happiness would be short lived as Noh Taeyoon, instead of crying began to burst out into laughter.

“What’s so funny? Have you gone insane from the thought of your son being gone.”

The Boss continued to laugh, both YNB and Fantagio agents had quietly surrounded them. Hyungjun looked back to where his agents were hiding- almost half were tied up and in cuffs.

“What’s the meaning of this?!?” He frantically looked around. Both YNB and Fantagio agents surrounding them were keeping guard. Standing only a foot or so away, he pulled out his gun and aimed it at Noh Taeyoon.

“You really haven’t figured it out.” the Boss stood up confidently- the gun following him “They always did say, one can grow blind from jealousy.” He sighed, “Do I really need to explain everything to you? Well,” He swiftly twisted the other’s arm, stole the gun from him and pointed it at him. “Let’s just say, my Jinwoo is a much better actor than you think.” He smiled softly.

Hyungjun’s rage only grew with Taeyoon’s smile. He grabbed the right hand, holding the gun, and tried to force it to face Taeyoon. Taeyoon kneed him in the stomach but as Hyungjun stepped back from the pain, he managed to land a hit on a pressure point causing Taeyoon’s right arm to grow weak for a few seconds. But before he dropped the gun, Taeyoon managed to throw the gun into the rubble.

Hyungjun pulled out his knife before Taeyoon could manage to regain his strength. Hyungjun tried to slash at him but Taeyoon managed to grab the other’s wrist before it could touch him. The strength in his right arm returned: he pulled out his gun and shot Hyungjun on the thigh.

He dropped the knife and fell from the pain. Fantagio agents quickly cuffed him while the YNB agents tightly tied a cloth around his thigh, right above where the bullet had hit.

The Boss watched as they did their work, “Once you’re done, load up the prisoners and inform Eunwoo that we’re on our way.”

Hyungjun was led to one of the cars, “Explain what’s happened!”

The Boss snickered, “You have the rest of your life to hear the story.”

——————————————————————

Jihun sat next to the medical bed, looking carefully at every detail of Jin Jin’s face. “Finally, it’s just you and me now, Jinwoo. Today, dad will finally get his revenge and today, I’ll finally be free of your shadow.” He turned off all of the machines and took off the mask from Jin Jin’s face. “Ever since you joined, all my dad talks about is how much of a better of a spy you are compared to me. For the past five years, I’ve worked hard to prove I’m better than you. To show him I’m above his expectations. But no matter what I did, you would always overshadow me.”

He carefully pulled off the equipment sticking to Jinjin and removed the IV needle. “But today… He’ll no longer need you. Today he’ll finally be able to see the better one between the two of us!”

He snickered and pulled out a knife from his spy belt, “You don’t understand how much I’ve been waiting for this day.” As he was about to jam the knife right into Jin Jin’s heart, in the blink of an eye, his right arm holding the knife was suddenly straight behind him and his other arm pinned behind his back. He was bent forward towards Jin Jin and a gun to his head.

When he was finally able to catch his barings, he realized what had happened, Lily held on tightly to his arm and took the knife from his hand while Maru pinned the other behind his back. But what surprised him most, was that Jinwoo was wide awake, holding a gun he had been hiding to his head. Jin Jin was sitting up and his face almost close enough to smell each other’s breath.

Jin Jin smiled, “And I’ve been waiting for this for the past five years as well. Lily, Maru, cuff him.”

They both gleefully smiled and restrained Jihun with special fingerprint locked cuffs.

Jihun was still wide-eyed as he tried to understand what was happening, “I- I thought you were in a coma!” He spat out trying to resist against Maru and Lily.

“All an act and I’m an amazing actor if I do say so myself, right Lily?” She just laughed and shook her head in response as they began to push Jihun out the door. Jin Jin jumped out of bed, instead of being in a hospital robe as he had been the past few days, he was fully dressed in his usual spy outfit, only his top, which had been hidden under his bed, was missing.

He put on his shirt as he followed them out and continued to explain to Jihun what was happening, “You see, while you were busy trying to kill me, there’s a... civil war of sorts going on in the company.” He waved his hand over his watch and showed Jihun the dots representing the members of Astro and KNK. “I had to get you and the Chief out of the picture and I figured, if everything went as I thought it would, that pretending to be in a coma was the best way. I knew there was a high chance that if I was out of the picture, the Chief would meet with the Boss himself and leave you here alone. Just like you said, with him being out of the way and finally getting what he wants, you’d be free to kill me as you please and what better way when I can’t even fight back.”

Jihun stamured “But the nanites… I thought-”

Jin Jin interrupted him, “Pretending to be in a coma was also a perfect chance for them to remove the nanites from my body.”

“So you mean..”

“Yup! I’m finally free of the pesky nanites and I feel better than ever!” Jin Jin skipped down the hallway.

“What will you do to me?”

Jin Jin’s smile faded and he spoke in a moderate tone. “Right now, we need to find out what’s going on outside and see if we can use you as a way to avoid casualties. After everything is over, you’ll be handed over to Fantagio as a prisoner OR you’ll be given a choice by the new company.”

“New company?”

Jin Jin nodded his head, “With the fall of YNB a new company will emerge. One that any spy can run to for help and one that spies can offer help to protect other spies. An agency thought to be a dream, one where people are free to come and go as they please. An agency where agents can find happiness and a means of escape.”

“What is the name of this new agency and what choices will I be given?”

Jin Jin softly smiled, “You’ll find out the name soon enough, but as for the choices you’ll be given well… You’ll either have the option to stop your old ways and start a new life outside of being a spy and a criminal or you work for the new agency.”

Jihun scoffed, “Even you know I wouldn’t take either of those options. I don’t know a life outside of being a spy and I don’t have any plans of working WITH any of you.”

“Well then, I guess to Fantagio you go…” Slowly they could hear inaudible yelling and shouting coming from outside. “We should go through the garage and circle around to avoid getting caught in the battle.”


	22. The Future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's sad to see this series come to an end :'( I've had so much fun growing and experimenting with my writing during Spy Work. I've worked on this series since 2017. I hope you guys continue to support my writing and hope I can give you all unique and interesting fics to read.
> 
> If requested, I'll write one shots for this AU and who knows? Maybe one day a new story arises

With no one to lead them, the resistance was unorganized. Soon the Seungjun and Inseong’s groups arrived and tried to find the distinction between the resistance and allies.

Amidst the fighting, Eunwoo received word the medical team was out and the Boss was able to apprehend the Chief. “Stop all fighting! The Chief has been apprehended!” He yelled and a wave of people repeating what he had announced spread through the crowd. Everyone stopped fighting and those resisting gave up upon hearing the news.

The building was double checked and prepared for demolition. Everyone gathered at a safe distance away. The prisoners were huddled together and the wounded were tended to. As Eunwoo was about to press the button to explode the building, a loud voice shouted from behind the crowd, “Wait!” Everyone turned around to find Noh Taeyoon and group standing there. The prisoners were placed with the others and the Chief was treated.

The Boss walked to the front of the large group of over two thousand agents total, “With the fall of this building, comes the success of a long awaited end to a family feud and also, the start of a new company. As head of Fantagio, I would like to announce a few things:”

He motioned to Sanha to walk closer to him and took out a piece of paper and ID from his jacket pocket, “First off, it’s not the traditional way but I think it’s perfect timing. As of this day, June third, Sanha has graduated and is an official agent.”

The crowd cheered as Sanha hesitantly took the certificate and official ID from the Boss. Astro ran over to him and hugged him.

“Second, I would like to announce that Astro are free of their title as fugitives and are welcome to return to Fantagio at anytime. Of course with that said, I would like to formally recognize the new organization Astro will be forming and announce that Fantagio will help them with funding.” He looked at Eunwoo and whispered, “What is the name of the organization?”

Eunwoo and the rest of Astro looked to one another. Sanha excitedly announced, “The name is based off of a word from the Maori language meaning love”

Rocky blushing continued , “Our leader chose this word and was the one who reminded us and taught us to keep love despite our profession.”

Bin smiled and put his arm around MJ, “We want to help those who thought there were no other options aside from continuing in their profession or being a fugitive.”

Eunwoo smiled, “And because of our company’s mission, we’ve decided to base our company on that word.”

MJ snuggled close to Moonbin, “Because we want all the actions we make and provide to be out of love and support. That’s why we’ve decided to call it-”

From off to the side of the crowd, a voice interrupted MJ, “Aroha!” Everyone especially the Chief, gasped in confusion and murmurs fell through the crowd. The crowd split in two and allowed the group of four through. Maru pulled Jihun to the group of prisoners and threw him into the group. Lily ran to hug and congratulate Sanha.

Jin Jin properly presented himself to the group of people as he stood next to the Boss, “For those of you who do not know who I am, I am Special Agent Jinwoo, leader of Astro and have been posing as a fake double agent for the past five years or so, all to finish this mission I had been given and to keep a promise I made. I became a living test subject for the experimental nanites by the Chief in order to protect Astro. I had to kill my brother who sacrificed his life not just to save me but for this mission of taking down YNB. I faked being in a coma just so that I could increase our chances of today’s success.”

He looked at Astro who were still in shock by what he had just said. He smiled lovingly at them, “At every major point of this mission, the decisions were made out of love. Many of us were cast away from love growing up, but that’s why it’s all the more important we do things out of love in order to succeed just as we have today! I still have one more promise to keep with my Eric-hyung and I plan on keeping it, but today, with everyones’ help I was finally able to keep my promise of completing the mission he had started.”

He looked back at the crowd, “Today marks the end of YNB and the beginning of Aroha. Today is the beginning of spies having a second chance at life, starting with all YNB agents who have helped us today.”

The crowd of YNB agents cheered and those who were held prisoner were filled with worry.

The Boss looked to Eunwoo and pointed at the trigger, “Let us officially start a new.” Eunwoo pressed the button and one by one a wave of explosions came from inside and slowly the outside began to crumble. As the dust faded away, all that remained was rubble.

Every YNB agent that had joined them were formed into three lines: those that wanted to join Fantagio; those that wanted to join Aroha; and finally those that wanted to start a new life outside of being a spy.

Fantagio agents dispersed and brought the prisoners with them. Jihun and the Ex-Chief, however, were left behind with them. Those that wanted to join Fantagio were few in number compared to the other lines of people and were thus sent to Fantagio to complete paperwork. They took down the names of those that wanted to join Aroha and would later contact them once a headquarters had been set up. As for those who wanted to start a new life; it was the largest line and they were told that once headquarters was set up was when they would be able to help them.

It was already night by the time everyone left to enjoy their new freedom. The three remaining members of KNK thanked and hugged each member of Astro for their help before leaving. After, the Boss and Astro personally brought Hyungjun and Jihun to their own secluded cells at a Fantagio affiliated jail.

Honeyst later announced that they would join Aroha and help with technical support and creation of new identities. Lily and Maru also joined and under Jin Jin’s approval became official spies but just as they wished, they would be heads of the medical bay. A few months later, Lily and Sanha would also be dating.

Rocky and Bin were assigned to head and teach the new units in charge of protection. Meanwhile, Sanha and MJ were in charge of spreading the word about the new company and finding those who would be interested in their services. Eunwoo was named head of the company per Jin Jin’s request.

As for Jin Jin, he stayed with Fantagio. With his long awaited goals completed, the Boss retired and passed on responsibility of head to Jin Jin. Through his leadership, they were able to pass a rule amongst the lawless under their care that a certain percentage of their earnings would go to Aroha and any donations would count as community service points. He was also able to spread the word about the Nam foundation and many donated in honor of the sacrifice their senior had made.

Inseong and Heejun found orphanages in need of proper care and both volunteered to become full time Headmasters. Seungjun reunited with Youjin and brought him to Aroha so he could properly start a new life. Seungjun, despite originally wanting to start a fresh life, decided to stay and help with whatever was needed at Aroha- though he did decide to adopt Bell and with the help of the four other members, has raised her to be kind and caring yet strong-willed child.

KNK, along with Youjin, would often visit Jihun in attempts to convince him to start a new life. After months of trying, their visits cut down to once a month just to catch him up on the world outside. Hyungjun however, only had Taeyoon to visit him. The ex-boss of Fantagio visits and talks to him everyday despite only being met with silence and his back turned to him, but he hopes one day they will come to an understanding.

About a month after the fall of YNB, the building of the official headquarters of Aroha was completed and built over the land where the YNB main building had been. After more months of hard work, Aroha quickly grew and so did the number of people they were able to help. Even the lawless that wanted to start their lives fresh would run to them for help.

Bin and MJ’s relationship was still strong as ever. Eunwoo finally contacted the girl with the dream necklace he had been watching from afar for so long. Jin Jin, with Rocky’s help, found and began to personally train one agent he would later announce as next in line. As for the library, it has been converted for Fantagio trainees to experience normal-work and further master their spy skills in a real life environment. Aroha, also, often use it to meet with potential clients because it is a safe space.

——————————————————————

“Hey, hyung. Sorry, it’s been so long since I last visited.” Jin Jin placed the small bouquet of flowers in front of the tombstone. “It’s been about what?… Ten years since Aroha started? They’ve grown so much. Eunwoo’s done so well leading them and guess what? He’s FINALLY getting married next week!”

He placed a blanket on the ground and sat down in front of the tombstone. “Sanha is also finally planning to propose to his girlfriend, Lily, soon. Moonbin and MJ are the same as always but I think they’re thinking of adopting a second child? Though, I’m pretty sure it’s still just MJ trying to convince Bin at this point.”

He laid the flowers out nicely in front, “We’re pretty sure Minhyuk has a secret special other, but he’s keeping it a secret from us… Oh, and with Honeyst’s and Eunwoo’s help he was finally able to find his parents. They’ve finally settled down thanks to the new start Aroha was able to give them. And not just that! We were all surprised to hear Rocky has a little brother too and now he goes to visit them every weekend. As for me…”

“Papa!” A little girl ran into Jin Jin’s embrace.

Jin Jin placed the girl on his lap, “Seonghui, say hi to uncle.” The little girl bashfully waved to the tombstone and hugged her father. “Can you believe Seonghui is going to be four years old already? She looks just like me, don’t you think?” Jin Jin laughed and let go of the little girl wiggling to go back to her mother.

The woman smiled and sat on the blanket next to Jinwoo. “Hello again. Jin Jin is treating me just fine, don’t worry. The Nam Foundation has helped even more orphanages thanks to him. Oh, and thanks to Aroha I’m able to safely continue working at the orphanage.”

Jin Jin kissed her on the forehead. “We’re happily married. Deoksu’s training is going really well but of course I don’t plan on retiring any time soon. Fantagio is doing well. We’ve been able to expand our reach by partnering with more agencies and since the fall of YNB, a lot of lawless agencies have been actively trying to take us down and letting down their own guard in return.” He laughed as his wife shook her head at him. “But you know… Most importantly, I’m keeping my final promise to you: to live a long life to the fullest for you. So please continue to watch over us.”

The three of them got up, bowed slightly and left. Jinjin carried his daughter on his shoulder while he put his arm around his wife- the three of them smiling as they walked away.

From above, Eric smiled down on them, “Operation 223 and Mission 311 status report- success…” He smiled and disappeared back into the light, “I’m proud of all of you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoy it!
> 
> Check me out on tumblr @moonlitstories or my twitter @jinjinjan23 for updates or if your confused or want to rant to me go ahead!
> 
> Check out my Recruitment series on my tumblr to understand each member's backgrounds more and check out my other works!


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